What kind of weather can you expect if you come to visit Karmøy? We take a look into our weather and a few dangers conserning our rather harsh climate, such as the dangers of going out to sea...

The local weather:
Variation in the weather, rapid changes often many times a day, is probably what most people would say if asked to description our weather. Rogaland (Karmøy is part of Rogaland fylke)is usually fylket that first welcomes spring to Norway, but to say that it's a stabile situation would be wrong! We can have snow and temperatures down towards freezing, for then to have temperatures into the twenties (celsius) a few days later.

When summer is here the weather tend to become somewhat more stabile. Again Rogaland often gets the highest temperatures of the country. Generally the temperatures we get ain't that bad, but we often get rain and wind throughout the year really. Our hottest mont is usually August while the rest of the country normally gets the best temperatures in July.

Autumn is in short words wet! Windy and wet! Most of Rogaland gets a lot of rain, and a lot of wind.

The winter is often cold and fine for long periods, but we don't get much snow, mostly it's rain in the winter too. We almost never gets snow till long into November, and it never stays for long.

The ocean, and traveling on it:
It's the mighty Atlantic ocean that is banging on Karmøy, this means that people wanting to go out on it, they should try to learn a little about it. Listen to experienced people and don't take unnecessary risks!

It should be obvious to most that a small open plastic boat becomes very, very small and helpless when the mighty ocean shows it's more brutal side. But as we around here has learned, this isn't that obvious to all... Without a doubt there lies a heavy responsibility on those who rent out holiday houses and such to foreign tourists, to give these a lection in how to use the ocean, but one must - as a visitor and not familiar with these conditions, try to learn a little bit about this on their own.

Most of those who rent out houses and cabins and such can tell you the most basic things you should know about using the ocean. And you can get help from the local tourist information, and other - ask and you will get help!

Life jackets saves lives! You can loan, rent or buy life jackets several places on Karmøy.

Make sure the boat is seaworthy, tell someone where you are going and how long you will be gone. A mobile phone is good to have, but don't put you life on it! MAke sure you know how to get help if something should happen. And most important of all: NEVER GO OUT ON THE OCEAN WHEN THE LOCAL PEOPLE SAY YOU SHOULDN'T!