Your best months in terms of daylight and weather are May through August. All you may see in the spot is shifting sea ice, but some cruises combine this with hot-air balloon flights over the pole. You can book passage through several travel companies on the ice-breaker 50 Years of Victory. If you are determined to pass over the geographic North Pole, this is also possible but more expensive. This can include polar bears, Arctic fox, musk ox and seals, among others. In any of these areas, you'll find an inhospitable, unpredictable but magnificent land of flat, treeless tundra with once-in-a-lifetime wildlife viewing. The roads are few and far between so consider plying the coast by ship. Perhaps the most accessible Arctic adventure is through Norway's Svalbard archipelago. Anyone can plan a trip to the areas of the Arctic accessible by land, like northern Alaska, Canada's Yukon or Northwestern Territories, or Iceland. Arctic tours aplentyĬan you visit the Arctic? Yes, you can and you may not even need a specialty tour. That causes temperatures to move up above freezing, but that doesn't mean you can't visit. Summer sun thaws permafrost in the top layers of soil. The coast of the Arctic has a different climate, with drier, colder weather in winter. If you visit the coastal areas of the Arctic (like areas of Alaska, Iceland, Russia and Scandinavia), winters are stormy with 49 inches of precipitation annually. Scientists say that this slows icy winds on the surface of the Arctic. Inversions that layer cold air below warmer air are another factor in creating Arctic weather. Months pass when it doesn't even poke its nose above the horizon. In winter, once you travel above the Arctic Circle, all sunlight comes in at a low angle. The Arctic's relationship with the sun is one of the most important factors in both weather and climate. But climate refers to an overview of what weather to expect in which season. Every place on the planet has day-to-day changes in its weather, and this includes the North Pole. Think of weather like your moods, climate like your personality. Weather and climate are different phenomena. Water is slightly warmer and moderates the climate in the North Pole a little. The Arctic is a body of ice floating on water, while Antarctica is a vast ice field on land. Why do the poles get so cold? Neither gets any direct sun, even in the middle of July when it's light all the time.