Bodø is a city and municipality in the county of Nordland, Norway.

The city of Bodø was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Bodin was merged with Bodø January 1, 1968. Skjerstad was merged with Bodø January 1, 2005.

The name

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The municipality is named after the old farm Bodøgård (Norse Boðvin), since the town is built on its ground. The first element is (maybe) boði m 'sunken rock, skerry', the last element is vin f 'meadow, pasture'. The last element was later misunderstood as øy f 'island' (and written with the Danish form ø).

Coat-of-arms

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The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1959). It shows the Sun (to represent the Midnight Sun).

History

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Bodø was granted township status in 1816 and is now county capital of Nordland. Most of Bodø was destroyed during a Luftwaffe attack on the 27th of May 1940. 6000 people were living in Bodø, and 3500 people lost their homes in the attack. 15 people lost their lives during the air attack (2 British soldiers and 13 Norwegians). Due to the acute lack of housing, the Swedish government helped build 107 apartments in the winter of 1941. These houses were built tightly together just outside the town. This small area, today in the heart of Bodø, is still called "svenskebyen:" the Swedish town.

The town was subsequently rebuilt after the war. The rebuilding ended in 1959 with the completion of the new town hall.
Bodø received international attention during the U-2 Crisis in May 1960, when it became known that the American U-2 pilot Gary Powers had been shot down over the Soviet Union on his way from Pakistan to Bodø.

Since 2005 Bodø has included the formerly separate municipality of Skjerstad.

The military and Bodø

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Bodø has a long history with the Norwegian armed forces, and especially the Royal Norwegian Air Force.
Bodø is the home to a major NATO airbase, CAOC3, and airforces regularly exercise during winter months during Exercise Strong Resolve. It is also the home of Bodø Main Air Station, a major Norwegian military air base, which today is a candidate for The Northern Air Base in the new RNoAF system, and Bodin Leir, an RNoAF recruit school including NASAMS personnell and a national response unit.

Geography

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The city lies just north of the Arctic Circle and the midnight sun is visible from June 2 to July 10.

The strongest tidal current in the world Saltstraumen is situated some 30 km east of Bodø.

Located on an unsheltered peninsula in the Norwegian Sea, Bodø is one of Norway's most windy cities. Snow cover during winter is usually sparse, not only due to the wind, but also an effect of a mild winter climate relative to latitude with periods of rain being common in winter. Average temperature for January is -2.2°C, while July 24-hr average is 12.5°C, annual mean temperature is 4.5°C and precipitation/year is 1020 mm . The coldest month on record was February 1966 with a mean of -8.9°C, and the warmest was...