It is actually quite warm...

I am starting to rethink the amount of clothes I have brought with me. True, there have been some very chilly breezes, especially when out on the water and when the wind howls down off the glacier, but on sunny days like this one it is warm. Not just ‘warm for the arctic’ but actually warm. August was the hottest month on record for Longyearbyen with a couple of days reaching 20°. By some measures of what defines the arctic [a monthly average temperature below +10°C] Longyearbyen was above that benchmark with an average of 11°.