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Norwegian word of the day: Yr 

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Norwegian word of the day: Yr 
Given how often the weather changes in Norway, this is a useful one to know. Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash and Nicolas Raymond/FlickR

Given how often the weather changes in Norway, this is a useful one to know.

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What does it mean? 

Yr is the word used to describe a light drizzle in Norway. Yr is also the name of the country's most popular weather app, which is run by public broadcaster NRK and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. 

Drizzle is precipitation with a drop size of less than 0.5 mm and is a transition between rain and clouds. Given you'll unlikely to be measuring rain drops as they fall, you'll typically be able to tell drizzle from feel. 

Most Norwegians are undeterred by the presence of drizzle unless they are expecting heavier rain to follow. 

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The reason for this is that I am sure you will have had a Norwegian tell you at some point now when you've complained about being cold or wet- det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær (there is no such thing as poor weather, just inappropriate clothes"). 

However, yr shouldn't be disregarded every time you come across it or if it's on the forecast, especially up in the mountains, as a little bit of drizzle can soon become a rain shower. 

Use it like this: 

Det er meldt yr i morgen tidlig, kanskje vi bør utsette teltturen vår?

(It's meant to be drizzling tomorrow morning, maybe we should postpone our camping trip?)

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