Porsanger (; ) is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Finnmark Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality is the village of

Lakselv ( Norwegian; ), or is the largest village and administrative centre of Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the southern end of the large Porsangerfjorden. The village has a population (2023) of 2,224 which g ...

. Other villages in the municipality include

Børselv , , or is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located at the base of the Sværholt Peninsula, along the east side of the Porsangerfjorden, at the outlet of the river Børselva. The village of Brenna lies a ...

, Brenna, Indre Billefjord,

Kistrand , , or is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. It is located on the eastern side of the Porsanger Peninsula, along the western shore of the Porsangerfjorden. The village lies along the European route E06 highway, abou ...

Olderfjord , , or is a village in Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The village lies at the end of Olderfjorden on the eastern coast of the Porsanger Peninsula, along the shore of the Porsangerfjorden. The village sits at the junction ...

, and Skoganvarre. The municipality is the 3rd largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Porsanger is the 208th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,889 (many of whom have a Kven (Kainu) or Sami background). The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is and its population has decreased by 1.9% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of ''Kistrand'' (renamed ''Porsanger'' in 1964) was established on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 1 January 1851, the southern part of Kistrand (population: 869) was separated to become the new

Kautokeino Municipality Kautokeino (; ; ; ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Kautokeino (village), village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other villag ...

. On 1 January 1861, the northern part of Kistrand (population: 345) was separated to become the new Kjelvik Municipality. On 1 January 1866, the southern part of Kistrand (population: 515) was separated to become the new

Karasjok Municipality or (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; ) (also: ) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Karasjok (village), village of Kara ...

. On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly formed

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; ; ; ) was a county in northern Norway that existed from 2020 to 2023. The county was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. It was the largest county by area in Norway, encompassing about , and w ...

county. Previously, it had been part of the old

county. On 1 January 2024, the

county was divided and the municipality once again became part of

county.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) was first named after the old ''Kistrand'' farm since the first Kistrand Church was built there. The first element is possibly derived from the word which means "kid" (as in a young

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

). The last element is which means "

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

" or "shore". On 2 November 1962, a royal resolution changed the name of the municipality to ''Porsanger''. The new name comes the local

Porsangerfjorden The Porsangerfjorden (; ; ) is a fjord in Finnmark county, Norway. Name The fjord is officially named ''Porsangerfjorden'' in Norwegian. It is also known informally as ''Porsangen'', but that is not an official name. The official Northern Sami ...

(). The first element is probably the name of the plant or ''finnmarkspors'' (''

Rhododendron tomentosum ''Rhododendron tomentosum'' ( syn. ''Ledum palustre''), commonly known as marsh Labrador tea, northern Labrador tea, marsh rosemary or wild rosemary, is a flowering plant in the subsection '' Ledum'' of the large genus ''Rhododendron'' in the fa ...

''). Another theory is that the first element is derived from the

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

word which means "

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

". The last element is which means "

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

" or "

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

". Since 2004, the municipality has had three co-official, co-equal, interchangeable names: , , and , since it has three official languages: Norwegian,

, and

Kven KVEN (1520 AM, "") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Port Hueneme, California and serves the Ventura County area. The station is owned by Gold Coast Broadcasting and broadcasts a Spanish-language talk/sports format. By day ...

. The spelling of the Sami and Kven language names change depending on how they are used. In Sami, it is called when it is spelled alone, but it is when using the Sami language equivalent to "Porsanger Municipality". In Kven, it is called when it is spelled alone, and it is when using the Kven language equivalent to "Porsanger municipality".

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 16 June 1967. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

, three reindeer salient

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

"'' (). This means the arms have a red

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is three leaping reindeer, two over one. The reindeer have a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. Porsanger is one of the largest municipalities in the

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

that is not dependent on

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. Instead, the local people historically farmed

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

, which is still an importance source of income for the residents. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

has one parish () within the municipality of Porsanger. It is part of the Indre Finnmark prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland.

History

The area has been settled by

Norwegians Norwegians () are an ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the Norsemen, Norse of the Early ...

and

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

since

time immemorial Time immemorial () is a phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, "ancient beyond memory or record". The phrase is used in legally significant contexts as well as in common parlance. ...

. In the 18th century, people from

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, escaping

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

and

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

, settled along the

. These people are today known as

Government

Porsanger Municipality is responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality is governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Indre og Østre Finnmark District Court and the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Municipal council

The

of Porsanger is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

() of Porsanger: *1839-1841: Søren Von Krogh Zetlitz *1841-1847: Johan Eirik Greiner *1847-1849: Peder K. Ulich *1849-1857: Johan Eirik Greiner *1857-1861: Peter Valeur *1861-1865: Johan Eirik Greiner *1869-1873: Lorents Jacob Pauli Holmgren *1873-1876: Lars Anton Moe *1877-1879: Thorvald Egeberg *1879-1881: Johan Eirik Greiner *1881-1885: Peder Larsen *1885-1894: Jacob A. Nordang *1894-1895: Anton Bye *1896-1897: Karl J Smith *1898-1901: Anton Bye *1902-1904: Salomon Nilsen *1905-1907: Nils Christoffersen *1908-1909: Peder Sætrum *1909-1911: Johannes Rasmussen *1911-1913: Anton Bye *1914-1917: Peder Andreas Olsen *1917-1919: H. Wilhelmsen *1920-1922: Peder Andreas Olsen *1923-1925: Georg Bjørkli *1926-1931: Olaf Reiersen *1932-1941: Peder Sivertsen ( Ap) *1945-1945: Hans A. Opstad ( Ap) *1945-1951: Peder Sivertsen ( Ap) *1952-1967: Hans A. Opstad ( Ap) *1968-1975: Helmer Mikkelsen ( Ap) *1976-1983: Hans A. Karlsen ( LL) *1984-1987: Steinulf Isaksen ( Ap) *1988-1989: Aina Hanssen ( Ap) *1990-1991: Berit Oppegaard ( H) *1992-1995: Åsla Eriksen ( Ap) *1995-1999: Rolf I. Johansen ( Ap) *1999-2007: Bjørn Søderholm ( H) *2007-2011: Mona Skanke ( Ap) *2011-2015: Knut Roger Hanssen ( H) *2015-2023: Aina Borch ( Ap) *2023-present: Jo Inge Hesjevik ( H)

Economy

Lakselv Airport, Banak Lakselv Airport (; ) is an international airport located at Banak, north of the village of Lakselv in Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. Co-located with the military Station Group Banak, the airport is owned and operated by t ...

is located on the Banak peninsula, just north of Lakselv village, along the coast of the fjord. The airport has connections to

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

and

Kirkenes (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark county, in the far northeastern part of Norway. The town lies on a peninsu ...

and it is operated by

Widerøe Widerøes Flyveselskap AS, trading as Widerøe, is a Norwegian airline, and the largest regional airline operating in the Nordic countries. The airline's fleet of 48 aircraft includes 45 De Havilland Dash 8 turboprops as well as 3 Embraer 1 ...

. There are also charter flights in the summer season. The airport is also used by the

Royal Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) () is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximately 2,430 employees (officers, enlisted ...

's Station Group Banak. The

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army () is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway in 1628. The ...

also has a

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

at Porsangermoen ( Garrison of Porsanger), and so the military presence in Porsanger is quite heavy. The local newspapers are

Finnmark Dagblad ''Finnmark Dagblad'' is a Norwegian daily newspaper, published in Hammerfest, Norway. The newspaper was founded in 1913 as ''Vestfinmarkens Socialdemokrat''. It changed its name to ''Vestfinnmark Arbeiderblad'' in 1923. From 1940 the newspaper ...

and

Ságat ''Ságat'' is a Sámi newspaper written in Norwegian that is published in Leavdnja in Porsanger Municipality, Finnmark county, Norway. History and profile ''Ságat'' was founded in Vadsø in 1957 and moved to Leavdnja in 1981, where it still i ...

. The northernmost

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

is located here, using crowberries instead of

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

Geography

Porsanger Municipality is the third largest municipality in Norway by area, with . The municipality surrounds the inner part of the

, the fourth longest fjord in Norway and the longest in

. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain ''Čohkkarášša''. The Porsangerfjorden is a wide, open body of water with many

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s. The

Porsanger Peninsula The Porsanger Peninsula () is a peninsula in Finnmark county, Norway. The large peninsula sits between the Altafjorden and the Porsangerfjorden and includes parts of the municipalities of Alta Municipality, Alta, Hammerfest Municipality, Hammer ...

lies on the western shore of the fjord and the

Sværholt Peninsula The Sværholt Peninsula ( or ) is a peninsula in Finnmark county, Norway. The peninsula lies between the Porsangerfjorden and Laksefjorden in the municipalities of Nordkapp, Lebesby, and Porsanger Porsanger may refer to: Places * Porsanger Mun ...

lies on the eastern shore. The biggest village (and municipal centre) is the village of Lakselv at the fjord's southern end. There are many smaller villages spread around the fjord on both sides, notably

, and Indre Billefjord. Stabbursdalen National Park, with the world's northernmost

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

, lies just west of the fjord and the village of Lakselv. The Stabburselva river runs through the park. Other notable rivers include the

Børselva , , or is a river in Porsanger Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The long river runs from the mountains down to the village of Børselv, and it then empties out into the Porsangerfjorden. The river has a watershed and at the mouth, th ...

and

Lakselva Lakselva (; ) is a river in Finnmark county in northern Norway. It begins in Karasjok Municipality runs north through Porsanger Municipality into the Porsangerfjorden, a fjord off of the Barents Sea. The long river runs past the village of ...

, both are well known for their

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

. The lakes Gákkajávri and

Kjæsvannet Kjæsvannet ( or ) is a lake on the border of Porsanger Municipality and Lebesby Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The lake is located on the Sværholt Peninsula, about half-way between the villages of Veidnes and Brenna. See also *Lis ...

are both located in the municipality. In Porsanger, there is

midnight sun Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is see ...

from 16 May until 27 July each year and there is

polar night Polar night is a phenomenon that occurs in the polar regions of Earth, northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth when the Sun remains below the horizon for more than 24 hours. This only occurs inside the polar circles. The opposite phen ...

from 25 November to 16 January.

Birdlife

Porsanger is an area of rich and varied

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

fauna. Here one can find such species as pine grosbeak. Away from the

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

s, it is the surrounding

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s that have the greatest diversity. During spring, thousands of

red knot The red knot or just knot (''Calidris canutus'') is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the ''Calidris'' sandpipers, second only to the ...

s stop to rest and feed along the shores of Porsangerfjord.

Climate

Lakselv has a

boreal climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

with modest precipitation and long winters, but still with annual mean well above freezing, ensuring there is no permafrost. The winters are less severe in terms of cold than would be expected for a town at 70 degrees latitude. The all-time high temperature was recorded on 5 July 2021. This is the warmest temperature ever recorded north of 70 degrees North in Europe. The all-time low is from January 1986. The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below ) in spring is 24 May and average date for first freeze in autumn is 6 September giving a frost-free season of 105 days. The weather station (recording since Aug 1945) is located at Banak Airport, from the town.

Notable people

* John Persen (1941–2014), a composer who grew up in Ráigeadja * Synnøve Persen (born 1950 in Beavgohpis), a Norwegian/Sámi artist, author and activist * Ivar Thomassen (1954 in Russenes – 2016), a folk singer, songwriter, and jazz pianist * Arnljot Elgsæter (born 1944 in Kistrand), a physicist and academic * Kåre Olli (born 1959), a Sami politician in the Labour Party

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

Activities & tourism in PorsangerAngling in Porsanger
{{authority control Municipalities of Finnmark Populated places of Arctic Norway 1838 establishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Sámi-language municipalities