Tafjord Explained

Official Name:Tafjord
Settlement Type:Village
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:11
Mapframe-Marker:village
Pushpin Map:Møre og Romsdal#Norway
Pushpin Label Position:right
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Norway
Subdivision Name1:Western Norway
Subdivision Name2:Møre og Romsdal
Subdivision Name3:Sunnmøre
Subdivision Type4:Municipality
Subdivision Name4:Fjord Municipality
Utc Offset1:+01:00
Utc Offset1 Dst:+02:00
Postal Code Type:Post Code
Postal Code:6213 Tafjord
Coordinates:62.2324°N 7.4177°W
Elevation M:6
Elevation Footnotes:[1]

Tafjord[2] is a village in Fjord Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is very isolated and (other than by boat) the only way into the valley is by road from the village of Sylte. The road is composed almost entirely of two tunnels through the very steep mountains along the edge of the Tafjorden: the 5.3km (03.3miles) Heggur Tunnel and the 700m (2,300feet) long Skjegghammar Tunnel.

Geography

The village is in a valley located at the end of the Tafjorden, about southeast of the village of Sylte, and just west of the borders of Reinheimen National Park. In the park, the mountains Tordsnose, Karitinden, and Puttegga all lie about to the southeast of Tafjord in the Tafjordfjella mountain range.

Tafjord landslide

On 7 April 1934, a rockslide of about 2000000m2 of rock fell off the mountain Langhamaren from a height of about . The rock landed in the Tafjorden which created a local megatsunami which killed 34 people[3] living on the shore of the fjord. The waves reached a height of near the landslide, about at Sylte, and about at Tafjord. It was one of the worst natural disasters in Norway in the 20th century.[4]

Climate

The weather station in Tafjord has been recording since 1925, and holds the record for the highest temperature in Norway in November at . The January record was recorded the night before 29 January 2024. These high temperatures in winter and late autumn are primarily due to foehn wind.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tafjord, Norddal (Møre og Romsdal) . 2019-08-18 . yr.no.
  2. Web site: Informasjon om stadnamn . 2025-04-15 . Norgeskart . . no.
  3. Book: Furseth, Astor . Dommedagsfjellet. Tafjord 1934 . Gyldendal . 1985 . Oslo . Norwegian.
  4. ,.