Bodø

Most of the town of Bodø was destroyed during a Luftwaffe attack on 27 May 1940. Six thousand people were living in Bodø, and 3500 people lost their homes in the attack. Fifteen people died during the air attack (two British soldiers and 13 Norwegians).[9]

Due to the acute lack of housing, the Swedish Government helped build 107 apartments in the winter of 1941. These houses were built tightly together just outside the town. This small area, today in the heart of Bodø, is still called Svenskebyen ("the Swedish Town"). The town was subsequently rebuilt after the war. The rebuilding ended in 1959 with the completion of the new town hall. German shipping in and around Bodø was attacked in October 1943 in Operation Leader.[9]

Off Bodø the submarine HMS Syrtis was lost on or around 28 March 1944 with all hands. Her location is currently unknown.

The municipality is named after the old Bodøgård farm (Old Norse: Boðvin), since the town was built on its ground. The first element might be boði which means "sunken rock" or "skerry" and the last element is vin which means "meadow" or "pasture". The last element may have been misunderstood as øy which means "island" (and written with the Danish language form ø).[10]

The coat of arms was first approved in 1889. It showed a midnight sun above a boat on the sea in front of a mountain range. The current version which is a simplified, modern version of the old arms was granted on 24 July 1959. The official blazon is "Gules, a sun Or" (Norwegian: På rød bunn en gull sol). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a sun. The sun has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The sun was chosen since Bodø was the first town in Northern Norway, and it experiences the midnight sun every year. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg.[11][12][13]

• 
  Old arms (1889–1959)
• 
  Current arms (since 1959)

Bodø features a humid continental climate (Dfb) or, if the original Köppen winter threshold of −3 °C (27 °F) is used, an oceanic climate (Cfb) in the 1991–2020 base period. Bodø is the northernmost city in the world and the only inside the Arctic Circle with a temperate four-season climate (not a subarctic climate). At the same latitude but further east in Scandinavia, some of the coldest and most continental areas in the region are found, making a sharp contrast with Bodø. The weather in Bodø depends on weather patterns; long-lasting weather patterns with Atlantic lows bringing rain and overcast skies. This can occur in all seasons, but so can sunny weather with Highs over Northern Scandinavia and Western Russia. The spring month May has ranged from 129 sunhours in 1964 to 322 sunhours in May 1981; in July recorded sunhours have ranged from just 48 sunhours in 1984 (the cloudiest recorded summer month) to 344 sunhours in July 2003, and October has ranged from 10 to 103 sunhours (sun recorded 1961–2005). The "midnight sun" is above the horizon from 1 June to 14 July (44 days), and the period with continuous daylight lasts a bit longer. In spite of having midnight sun, Bodø still lacks true polar nights as the sun is barely above the horizon at noon on the darkest days in December due to atmospheric refraction, but being very low it is usually blocked by mountains or stays too weak to register. Daylength increases from less than two hours at the start of January to 6 hours on 31 January, and then to nearly 10 hours by late February. By mid-April daylength is approaching 16 hours, reaching 24 hours on 1 June.

Snow cover during winter varies, and is often sparse or lacking in the city center, while being more reliable only slightly inland or at some altitude. The largest recorded snow depth at the airport is 90 centimetres (35 in) in February 1976. Located on a peninsula in the Norwegian Sea, Bodø is known to be a city with potential for strong winds, both from southwest and east.

The all-time low of −18.5 °C (−1.3 °F) was recorded in February 1966, which was the coldest month on record with a mean of −8.9 °C (16.0 °F). The all-time high of 30.7 °C (87.3 °F) was set in July 2019, while July 2014 was the warmest month with a 24-hr mean of 17.3 °C (63.1 °F) and average daily high of 21.6 °C (70.9 °F). The warmest night recorded was 29 June 1972 with overnight low of 21.7 °C (71.1 °F). The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below 0 °C (32.0 °F)) in spring is 5 May[15] and average date for first freeze in autumn is 12 October (1981–2010 average)[16] giving a frost-free season of 159 days. The driest month on record was January 2014 with no precipitation at all, while the wettest was September 2009 with 293 millimetres (11.5 in). Recent decades have seen warming, and there has been no overnight air frost in June since 1981.

The Helligvær islands northwest of mainland Bodø are slightly more oceanic with all winter months above freezing and a cooler summer (a subpolar oceanic Cfc climate in the Köppen classification). As the islands are more exposed to the sea (North Atlantic Drift), they are a little more similar to that of Røst.

This is an earlier climate normal at Bodø Airport. This normal shows a slightly cooler average annual temperature, less sunshine hours and less precipitation but more precipitation days.

Nordlandssykehuset is the main county hospital.

Besides Saltstraumen, the municipality of Bodø has much wilderness for hikers. About 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the town of Bodø lies the popular recreation area Geitvågen. The area is inhabited by a large number of white-tailed eagles. Sjunkhatten National Park is partly located in Bodø municipality, and there are also 17 nature reserves. Sundstraumlian nature reserve has undisturbed mixed forest with marble bedrock,[22] Skånland with coastal pine forest,[23] Børvatnet protecting a birch forest with many orchids,[24] and Bliksvær nature reserve with well-preserved coastal nature of many types and a rich bird life, making it a Ramsar site as well.[25]

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Bodø is made up of 39 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the council is as follows:

The mayors of Bodø:[51][52]

Bodø Station serves as the northern terminus of the Nordland Line that runs south to Trondheim, where it connects to the rest of the norwegian rail network. It isn't the northernmost station though, with Tverrlandet Station being the northernmost station of the Nordland Line and Narvik Station, terminal of the Ofoten Line, being the northernmost station in the whole of Norway. The Ofoten Line however doesn't have a connection to the rest of Norways railway network, thus making Bodø also the northern terminus of the central norwegian railway system.

If F7 and R75 are counted together, there are 10 daily services to Fauske, 7 daily services to Rognan, 4 daily services to Mosjøen, and 2 daily services to Trondheim on a typical weekday. On weekends, there are only 3 daily services of the F7 and one daily service of the R75.

Bodø is served by several Bus lines to various destinations. Inside Bodø, there is a bus network with 4 lines, serving as public transport in Bodø, and 4 long-distance bus lines connecting to different parts of the country. Notable is line 100, which connects to Narvik, where it is possible to change onto trains of the Ofoten line towards Sweden at Narvik Station.

Bodø is an important ferry port, connecting to several other parts of Norway.

It is serviced by the Ferry Bodø – Røst – Værøy – Moskenes by operator Torghatten Nord.

Nordland Fylkeskommune operates the Hurtigbåt services from the city center terminal. Hurtigbåt services go to Sandnessjøen, Svolvær, Væran, and Gildeskål

Additionally, Bodø is a stop on the renowned Hurtigruten (Kystruten Bergen-Kirkenes) Norwegian coastal ferry line and sees daily services towards Bergen and Kirkenes by operator Hurtigruten AS or Havila Kystruten, who jointly run the Kystruten service between Bergen and Kirkenes.

Bodø Airport lies just south of the city centre and was opened in 1952. The airport is run by Avinor. It served 1,733,330 passengers in 2015 and is the site of Bodø Air Traffic Control Center. It is served regularly by SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), Norwegian Air Shuttle and Widerøe. The airline Widerøe has its head office in Bodø.

Saltstraumen kyrkje, 2011

The Church of Norway has six parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Bodø. It is part of the Bodø domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Ole Mikal Kobbe, 1925

• Paul Steenstrup Koht (1844–1892), educator and politician, a penchant for Greek and Roman poetry
• Christian Albrecht Jakhelln (1863–1945), businessperson and politician. He often served as Mayor.
• Johannes J. Johannessen (1872–1915), United States Navy sailor. He received the Medal of Honor.
• Ole Mikal Kobbe (1881–1955), Norwegian military officer and politician
• Sigmund Olaf Plytt Mowinckel (1884 in Kjerringøy – 1965), professor, theologian and biblical scholar
• Tore Gjelsvik (1916–2006), geologist, polar explorer and a role in the Norwegian resistance
• Jon Tørset (born 1940), Norwegian politician, as county Mayor of Nordland 1999–2007
• Tor Berger Jørgensen (born 1945), Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland 2006–2015
• Ann-Helen Fjeldstad Jusnes (born 1956), Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland since 2016
• Torild Skogsholm (born 1959), politician, now the director of the Oslo tram company Oslo Sporvognsdrift
• Marie Simonsen (born 1962), Norwegian journalist, political editor of Dagbladet
• Vidar Helgesen (born 1968), Norwegian diplomat and politician
• Tom Cato Karlsen (born 1974), politician, anesthesiologist and County Governor of Nordland

Endre Lund Eriksen, 2017

• Adelsteen Normann (1848–1918), Norwegian painter who worked in Berlin
• Håkon Evjenth (1894–1951), jurist, non-fiction writer, short-story writer and children's writer
• Asbjørn Toms (1915–1990), Norwegian actor, stage director and playwright[56]
• Jonas Fjeld (born 1952), Norwegian singer, songwriter and guitarist
• Jan Gunnar Hoff (born 1958), Norwegian jazz pianist, composer, arranger and professor
• Morten Abel (born 1962), Norwegian pop artist
• Per Sundnes (born 1966), Norwegian journalist and talk show host
• Susanne Lundeng (born 1969), Norwegian traditional folk musician, fiddler and composer
• Endre Lund Eriksen (born 1977), Norwegian author and politician
• Caroline Ailin (born 1989), Norwegian singer and songwriter based in London

Ørjan Berg, 2006

• Christian Berg (born 1978), retired Norwegian footballer with over 320 club caps
• Harald Berg (born 1941), former footballer with 43 caps for Norway
• Ørjan Berg (born 1968), former Norwegian footballer with 383 club caps and 19 for Norway
• Runar Berg (born 1970), retired Norwegian footballer with 450 club caps and 5 for Norway
• Marianne Dahlmo (born 1965), former cross-country skier, team silver medallist at the 1988 Winter Olympics
• Ann Cathrin Eriksen (born 1971), former team handball player, team bronze medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics
• Jens Petter Hauge (born 1999), footballer who currently plays for Belgian club K.A.A. Gent
• Tor Helness (born 1957), professional bridge player, now living in Monaco
• Mini Jakobsen (born 1965 in Gravdal), former footballer with 372 club caps and 65 for Norway
• Anders Konradsen (born 1990), Norwegian footballer with over 270 club caps and 8 for Norway
• Kjell Søbak (born 1957), former biathlete, team silver medallist at the 1984 Summer Olympics
• Alexander Tettey (born 1986), Norwegian footballer with 380 club caps and 34 for Norway
• Morten Thoresen (born 1997), Norwegian Greco-Roman wrestler, gold medallist at the 2020 European Wrestling Championships^
• Martin Wiig (born 1983), retired Norwegian footballer with 350 club caps