Brekke in Gulen has a reputation as the wettest place in Norway, and the numbers back it up. Annual rainfall here regularly exceeds 3,000 millimetres. In 1990, the nearby measuring station at Verkland recorded 5,546 millimetres, which was a Norwegian record at the time.
Norway has extremes in both directions. Skjåk in Ottadalen, on the other side of the mountains, gets about 300 millimetres a year. That is barely above the 250-millimetre threshold that defines a desert. So Norway's driest place is almost a desert, and its wettest place gets nearly 20 times as much rain. The reason is the same mountains: moisture-laden air from the North Sea hits the coast at Brekke and dumps everything it carries. By the time it crosses the mountains and reaches Skjåk, there is nothing left.
There are places in Norway that get even more rain, like the glaciers at Folgefonna and Ålfotbreen, but nobody lives there. Brekke holds the distinction of being the wettest place where people actually choose to stay.
Norway has extremes in both directions. Skjåk in Ottadalen, on the other side of the mountains, gets about 300 millimetres a year. That is barely above the 250-millimetre threshold that defines a desert. So Norway's driest place is almost a desert, and its wettest place gets nearly 20 times as much rain. The reason is the same mountains: moisture-laden air from the North Sea hits the coast at Brekke and dumps everything it carries. By the time it crosses the mountains and reaches Skjåk, there is nothing left.
There are places in Norway that get even more rain, like the glaciers at Folgefonna and Ålfotbreen, but nobody lives there. Brekke holds the distinction of being the wettest place where people actually choose to stay.