The Polar Vortex comes to Mandal

When I arrived in Mandal in late December the weather was surprisingly mild at a temperate 7 degrees Celsius (that's about 45 for all you Fareheit-ers out there). Right before I left to travel to Holland and Austria, Mandal received a dusting of snow. When I returned a week and half later I returned to the most snow I have ever seen- Mandal had received about two to three times the normal amount for January. Meanwhile western Norway is experiencing a crazy amount of forest fires. What is this, California in the summer?? Anyways, here are what the cute little town of Mandal looks like under more than 4 feet of snow. These uncharacteristic weather patterns could serve as a real testament to the fact that global warming is alive and kicking.
At least Norway knows how to handle more than 3 inches of snow; for the most part life goes on bar a few traffic backups etc...

Before sh*t got real, it was really pretty with just a dusting of snow!

My great grandmother and grandfather (oldemor and oldefar in Norwegian). As you can see I was named after oldemor, my dad promised her he would name his daughter after her when he was little :) It's these little stories that make up a huge part of why I love Norway so much. The fact that my great grandparents are buried where a lot of my dad's family still lives feels really special and not something that is all that common these days.

Polar Vortex!

Seriously...a Polar Vortex.

Farmor's house- my bedroom is the upper left window,  a lot of which is obscured by the snow several feet of snow on the roof.

This is a fence, or what's left of it anyways.

Waist deep in snow at THE BEACH (Sjøsanden).

You can sort of see Bestemor, the lighthouse, in the distance.

1meter long icicles hanging from the factory that is right across the street from Farmor's house. It produced hoses or something, like that in the past but now also equipment for fracking which is now sent to the US, who would have thought this all goes down in little ol' Mandal. 

Yes, this is a child rocking the cross country skis in a grocery store. When I was Oslo there were also tons of people patrolling around on all sorts of public transport with their x country gear. Awesome.