Climate and Capital

(The Gulf Stream)

Climate

- As its name suggests, Iceland is cold, but not as cold as you might expect because of the passing warm waters of the Gulf stream.
- The average summer temperature in Reykjavík is 5°C (41°F) at night as high as 25°C (77°F) during the nice summer days.
- The average January temperature is -0.5°C (31°F)
- The southern part of the country is the wettest but snow is rare.
- Reykjavík is a very wet city, having on average 213 rainy days a year. In exchange they get slightly more sunny days in the spring.
- From the end of May to the beginning of August there is daylight during all 24 hours of the day while in the northen part of the country the sun rarely sets at all during summer.
- The Northen Lights are often visible in autumn and early winter.
- The weather in Iceland can change very fast. There would be snowing very hard for one hour but the next hour it could be rainy and sunny.

Capital

- Laugavegur is one of the oldest shopping streets in Reykjavík. The name means Pool Road. Multiple stores and clubs are located on this street. The nightlife never ends.
- Perlan (The Pearl) is a landmark building in Reykjavík. It is 25.7 meters (84.3 ft) high. It is situated on a big hill so that you can see it wherever you are in the city.
- Hallgrímskirkja (literally, the church of Hallgrímur Pétursson) is the fourth tallest building in
Iceland. It is 74.5 meters (244 ft) high.
- There are more than 113.000 inhabitants (2005) in Reykjavík or nearly 40 % of the country´s total population.
- It´s the most northern national capital in the whole world.
- Ingólfur Arnarson is said to have established the first permanent settlement in Iceland 874