Written by Joshua
17 Mar 2025
It’s that time of year in Sweden when people are referring to winter in the past tense. When I first arrived, if I’m being honest, I was kind of holding my breath, waiting to see what would have come. I never experienced seasons. In Jamaica, we just had summer all year round 😅. I was mostly afraid of living in a frozen tundra, and I figured that, quite soon after I arrived, Stockholm would become exactly that. Looking back, I spent so much time dreading what I thought was just an eventuality. So, how did it turn out?
Summer into the fall
I came to Sweden with my family on the 15 of August. At the time, it was still summer. The sun was shining all the time, there wasn’t very much rain, and the temperature ranged between maybe 15 degrees Celsius at the coldest during the nights, to 25 degrees Celsius in the middle of the day. That weather was reminiscent of the ‘winter’ in Jamaica for me – that time of year when it was just marginally cooler than summer 😅. It was definitely a nice time to be here. All the flowers were in bloom, the grass was green, the waterways were flowing, people wore shorts and open-toed shoes, and everybody was just outside all the time ☀️.
Things started to change a little bit when we entered the fall. For the first time in my life, I really got to see what people meant by the leaves falling off the trees. Apparently, they don’t all fall at the same time 😅, and it was so cool to see nature take its course. At that time, between mid-October and early November, the temperatures were still changing. The more leaves fell, the cooler it got and the more anxious I grew to see what would happen next 😨.
The darkest month in the year
Contrary to popular belief, December isn’t actually the coldest month of the year – in the northern hemisphere at least. In late November, I had experienced my first snow day in Stockholm. The snow wasn’t too heavy, and it only fell continuously for less than a day or so. By then, what I was really starting to notice more than the cold was the darkness. While December isn’t the coldest month, it’s the month when sunlight becomes a scarcity in Sweden. I found out that I actually liked snow, not because it made beautiful ice crystals fall from the sky, but because it was white, and it made it seem like it was bright and sunny out, even though it wasn’t 😭.
The coldest month of the year
Coming into February is when the cold became a much bigger deal. I should also say right now that Stockholm may not always be freezing cold, but it tends to be very windy. The wind makes it feel much colder than it actually is, and you have to be sure that you have the clothes for it. We had a few snow days since the start of the season, but far fewer than I thought there would be. In my mind, I think we had less than 20 days between November and February where it snowed substantially in Stockholm. We never had – at least not that I know of – any major shutdowns or lockdowns because of bad weather. The temperatures ranged between -5 degrees Celsius and 5 degrees Celsius for the majority of the season. There were a few occasions where the temperature dipped between -5 and -10, but that was very rarely during the day, and not very often at all.
My final thoughts
The weather in Stockholm is extremely dramatic, but, if you’re going to be something, you might as well be dramatic, right😅💅🏾? It could look like the loch ness monster is about to rear its head in the middle of the day, and like the end of an American rom-com in the afternoon 😂. I always found that pretty cool. I’m not going to lie to you, getting through the cloudy days got very difficult for me, especially in the darker months.
I don’t know if I would have managed had I not been able to go home to the sunlight for a couple weeks. So, I guess what I’m saying is, no, the weather – in Stockholm at least – really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I think it was enough to make me second guess deciding to live here when I’m through with my studies.
The hard truth is that you have to figure out the things that are important to you, and the things you can’t live without. Studying abroad teaches you just that. For me, I think I may need just a bit more sunlight to thrive in an environment like Sweden, but maybe that would be different for you 🤷🏾.
Now, I’ve heard a lot of people in Sweden saying that this winter was mild, but I’ve also heard that the last couple have been too. As the effects of climate change become more prevalent, the reality is that a lot of things will change. All in all though, this was my experience of Stockholm’s winter, and I hope this post gave you a bit of insight into what the weather is really like.
Feel free to ask me anything in the comments! I’d be more than happy to answer. Can’t wait to share with you guys in the next one!
