Live cameras in Akureyri, Iceland

Akureyri is the largest town in Iceland outside the capital region, a fishing and university town of about 20,000 people at the head of Eyjafjörður, the country's longest fjord. It lies in the north, about a hundred kilometers south of the Arctic Circle and roughly 390 kilometers from Reykjavík by road. Mountains shelter the town, which gives it a relatively mild climate for its latitude and allows a botanical garden to grow plants outdoors without greenhouses. The steps up to Akureyrarkirkja church lead to views over the fjord, and the Hlíðarfjall ski area on the slopes just west of town is one of the main winter draws. The airport handles domestic and some international flights, and whale-watching boats leave from the harbor in summer.

What the cameras show

The cameras grouped under Akureyri are Vegagerðin road-weather webcams, run by the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration. A new picture from each one arrives every few minutes. In this part of the north they look along the Ring Road, Route 1, and other roads around Eyjafjörður. Route 1 heads west over the high Öxnadalsheiði pass toward Skagafjörður, where snow and wind often affect driving, and east through the Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel, opened at the end of 2018, toward Lake Mývatn. The views help drivers judge snow cover and visibility before setting out.

• Midsummer: nearly round-the-clock daylight around the June solstice
• Midwinter: only a few hours of low daylight in December
• Northern lights: possible on clear, dark nights from about September to April

Akureyri uses Greenwich Mean Time all year, with no clock changes. Being farther north than Reykjavík, it has even shorter winter days and brighter summer nights. Winter storms can close the mountain passes for a time, and the road-weather images are often the first sign of a change.

Nearby, the Goðafoss waterfall lies east along Route 1 past the tunnel, and the island of Hrísey, reached by a short ferry from Árskógssandur, sits in the middle of the fjord.

Sources: Akureyri - Wikipedia · Vegagerðin (Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration) - road conditions and webcams · Vaðlaheiðargöng - Wikipedia.