Arendelle Average Weather and Temperatures plus location IRL
UPDATE to this post: please also note an additional post/answer to an anon question on the Arendelle Archives blog, regarding the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)!
Recently someone on reddit in the r/Frozen sub asked what the average weather and temperatures were like in Arendelle.
LINK
This promptly got me thinking about it in more detail and I've now theorised, based on @virtual-winter's recent maps, about Arendelle's possible position in the real world. The decisive factor is the known longitude and latitude on the official Frozen maps (virtual-winter had created a very detailed analysis of this in 2022, which you should definitely take a look at. See link below for the updated file).
My response on reddit was initially as follows:
This would require knowing the exact real position of Arendelle in Norway and, as it is a fictitious kingdom, there can of course be no comparable weather data. In addition, the climate around 1840 was not subject to today's environmental influences (pre-industrialisation) and modern weather records usually only start at the beginning of the 20th century. The average temperatures mid of the 19th century were somewhat cooler overall (approx. 1 degree Celsius colder).
Here is my complete, significantly expanded theory.
Some facts about Arendelle's capital regarding weather influences and average annual temperatures:
location of the fictitious capital of the kingdom:
a) Arendelle lies at sea level
b) directly on the western coast
c) right on the Arenfjord, which does not freeze over in winter (connected to the North Sea to the south and the storm-prone Dark Sea to the north)
d) bordered to the east by a high mountain wall, to the west by a towering plateau (Vesterland?), which protects the city from direct weather influences from both seas, bordered to the north by high mountain ranges and forests, to the south there are mountain ranges along the entire coast.
2. known weather facts about Arendelle's seasons from the films, books and comics:
a) sunny spring with pleasant temperatures
b) mild to sometimes very hot summers, mountain peaks in the surrounding area are snow-free
c) pleasant autumn, very fertile for harvests and livestock farming
d) snowy, long and dark winters
Note: based on the assumed location in the real world, the probability of seeing the Northern Lights is close to zero, as Arendelle would be far too far south of the Arctic Circle (so in the Frozen universe the Arctic Circle must have simply been placed further south).
Only from Bodø, Norway, which lies within the Arctic Circle, and further north, does the probability of seeing the Northern Lights increase. Tromsø - the Arctic capital, known for the iconic Arctic Cathedral and the Polar Museum - is one of the most popular destinations for this and is famous for the midnight sun in summer. Winter is the high season there.
The highest activity for the Aurora Borealis is in spring (March/April) and autumn (September/October) and is best seen in cold, dry weather and clear dark skies.
3. comparable reference locations in Norway (north/south line), based on the map of virtual-winter (based on a map design of the ‘Golden Age’, where the prime meridian is somewhere in the Atlantic and therefore places Arendelle in the middle of the North Sea, still off the west coast of Norway, here 62°15'N 0°E):
a) a few kilometres south of Ålesund (harbour town on the west coast, located at the entrance to the Geirangerfjord)
b) Ørsta, in the province of Møre og Romsdal, village on the innermost part of Ørstafjorden, surrounded by the Sunnmørsalpene mountains
c) The village of Volda, in the province of Møre og Romsdal, about 10 kilometres southwest of Ørsta, on the northeastern shore of the Voldsfjorden.
d) Straumshamn, a village in the province of Møre og Romsdal at the southern end of the Kilsfjord branch of the Voldsfjorden. The Bjørkedalen valley runs south of Straumshamn and cuts between the Sunnmørsalpene mountains.
e) Bjørkedal, in the county of Møre og Romsdal, between Nordfjordeid and Volda by the Bjørkedalsvatnet lake. Not far south of Bjørkedal is the border between Møre og Romsdal and the province of Vestland.
f) Nordfjordeid, a picturesque small town in the province of Vestland, situated on the banks of the Edisfjord and surrounded by impressive mountains and unspoilt nature.
Note: Bergen is on the one hand far too far south - almost on a par with the ‘southern islands’ - and on the other hand has a high probability of rain 268 days a year!
Options b) and c) are therefore comparatively the most likely.
Hint: @virtual-winter has transferred the coordinates on Iduna's map in Frozen II into real-world coordinates. According to this, Arendelle would be in the centre of Finland, near the town of Pieksämäki (see picture below). In this context, I highly recommend reading his 39-page PDF analysis ‘An Odyssey through Frozen Geography’ in the updated version from September 2023! LINK
4. annual average temperatures, precipitation and daylight in the overview using the example of the villages Ørsta and Volda.
Note: all map pictures created by virtual-winter, slightly edited by me for this post.
Additional links to the Aurora Borealis aka Northern Lights:
The Aurora Oval & Ovation Map
Where is the best place to see the Northern Lights
When is the best time to see the Northern Lights?
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