The Solovetsky Islands are an archipelago made up of six large and many smaller islands. The archipelago is in the White Sea at the entrance to the Gulf of Onega, 45 km to the east of the White Sea’s Pomor shore. The archipelago covers over 300 square kilometres.

The Six Largest Islands in the Solovetsky Archipelago:

All the islands are fairly flat with the occasional, prominent high points of up to 80 metres.

The landscape is littered with huge granite boulders left over from the Ice Age.

The climate of the Solovetsky Islands is dictated by two principal factors:

The archipelago’s geographical position in the polar region (latitude 65º north) and its marine environment.

In June the maximum number of daylight hours is 21.5, in December the minimum is 4 daylight hours. The average number of overcast days for June-July is only 2, whereas in December the sun is usually hidden by dense cloud cover for a full 30 days.

Cyclones are active in the area, in the summer it experiences frequent invasions of arctic air masses bringing sunny but cold weather. Thanks to the calming influence of the White Sea, Solovki enjoys relatively pleasant temperatures:

Owing to the slow rate of warming and cooling of the sea, seasonal changes on the archipelago occur later than on the mainland. On average the seasons are three weeks behind. This is particularly obvious in the spring and summer period. In the winter the sea around the islands freezes over into a four to five kilometre area of fast ice.

The sea climate is also responsible for the high winds and relatively high air moisture content:

As a rule, in June and July the weather is warm, occasionally even hot and sunny with clear skies. The temperature ranges between 18ºC-30ºC. However on the islands, especially on the seashore, the winds are quite strong and can chill you through. The climate on the islands is continental extreme and in August the temperature call fall rapidly in the evenings and at night to 0ºC.

September is usually a good month to visit the islands, sometimes the season can stretch into mid-October. The nights are cold by then, the days are clear and sunny, sometimes without wind, the temperature can be in the range 12ºC-16ºC. The normal daytime temperature at that time of year is 8ºC-15ºC, night time temperature could fall as low as zero centigrade. You can get some lovely, summer-like days away from the sea and the wind, where it can get quite warm. It is a good time to visit the islands because there are far fewer tourists, however, this has to be counter-weighed against the fact that it could be more difficult to make the crossing as there are frequent gales in September and the boats from Kem, which are already operating an out of season schedule, may not leave harbour for several days in a row. It is advisable, at that time of year, to use air transport. During the season there can be transport difficulties on the sea route between Solovki and Karelia, and on the air route from Arkhangelsk, due to gale strength winds.

Some Useful Tips

- In the summer gale-strength winds and low temperatures are not unknown. It is wise to pack for swift changing weather conditions, heavy rain and cold. You will need warm clothing and sensible footwear. On the other hand, it is often warm in the village, so shorts and t-shirts are also useful.

- From mid-June to the end of August there are a lot of mosquitoes in the forests, so anti-mosquito sprays and creams are a good idea. There are hardly any mosquitoes in the village itself.

The microclimate on the islands and the surrounding sea creates favourable conditions for a wide variety of flora and fauna. There are cherry trees, dog rose, cedars, maple, hazel, guelder rose, rowan. Much of the islands is covered with coniferous and deciduous forest. Despite being surrounded by salt water, the islands have a large amount of fresh water. There are more than 500 lakes providing excellent drinking water and good fishing. However, a major part of the islands is covered with forest, of which conifers predominate, particularly pine and fir. Birches, alder and rowan grow to a good size here and the larch and southern trees also do well.

There is not a huge variety of animal life on Solovki, but it is abundant. There are squirrels, hares, foxes and northern deer. The lakes are home to perch, roach, pike, burbot. The sea has nerpa seals, white whales, bearded seal, Greenland seals. Solovetsky herring are considered a special delicacy. Around the coast there are excellent seaweed beds containing kelp, fucus, ahnfeltia which are all harvested commercially. The real masters of Solovki are the songbirds, the gulls, geese, mallard and eider duck, hazel grouse, wood grouse and willow grouse.

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