The Nordic nations are located in the northern latitudes. Parts of some Nordic countries reached into the Arctic Circle. This location means that winters last very long and summers are fairly short. In the middle of the winter, some places in the Nordic countries only see two or three hours of sunlight a day. During the winter, the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights shine brightly in the sky. These greenish white and red lights appear when particles from the sun break through the northern atmosphere because of the attraction to the magnetic field in the North Pole

Because of those long winters, the start of summer is actually a public holiday in many Nordic countries. The same places that have very little sunlight in winter see more than 20 hours of sun each day in the middle of summer. Because the sun never really sets it needs places, the long evenings are called “white nights.”

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Even with the long winter, most of the Nordic nations enjoy a mild climate. All of Denmark, half of Iceland, southern Sweden and the west coast of Norway benefit from the warm Atlantic currents. The moderate weather in these areas means that most of the coasts are free of ice. The coldest parts of the Nordic nations are to the east of the mountains in Norway. The mountains block the warm ocean winds from reaching the land on the other side resulting in a subarctic climate of cold and dry weather.