In Norway, waterfalls live “by their own rules.”

In Norway, even waterfalls follow their own rhythm — they disappear and return like the Northern Lights.

Many waterfalls function only for a short period. They are beautiful for just a few weeks a year (usually from mid-June to early August).

Most waterfalls here are of glacial origin — seasonally fed by glacier melt, or by small mountain lakes and snowfields, rather than by large river systems.

Huge, but short-lived waterfalls. The water streams look mighty, yet as soon as glacier melt decreases, the water level drops rapidly to a thin trickle or dries up completely — leaving only wet rock walls.
A foss becomes sound in summer, and a cliff in autumn. This phenomenon is characteristic of all of Norway.
It is precisely this Norwegian peculiarity that makes it unique compared to other great mountain ranges.

Many tourists arrive in autumn or winter hoping to see a waterfall — and instead find an empty, grey wall without water.
In winter or during dry autumns, they vanish or turn into ice walls.
Some call them “Norway’s phantom waterfalls”.

That is why many local hydrologists say:
“We don’t have one highest waterfall — we have a season with hundreds of the highest.”