What is the temp on a winter night? I once spent NYE in NYC and froze my butt off... much preferred my time in Rio DJ. :-D Would love to try Iceland in the summer.
Depends on the night, obviously, but "very cold" is a safe assertion.
The first day there I had a hard time, thinking that my casual cold-weather gear would keep me comfortable was a mistake I learned the hard way tracking the northern lights on a mountaintop at 2 in the morning on the coldest night they'd had in 50 years.
But, the next day I picked up a pair of (expensive) sweatpants to act as a third layer, and I was just fine. Toasty enough that at night times I'd casually take off a hat or some gloves.
If you absolutely hate cold weather, maybe check it out in summer time. If you're willing to layer (and not just throw on dumb layers like I did) then it's totally manageable.
I found the magic combo to be:
* Thermalsilk top and bottom base layer
* An intermediate layer for very cold nights (https://www.icewear.is/us/fodurland-wool-underwear-baselayer)
* I got away with those two and a pair of Amazon Basics chinos, but a hard shell outer layer is probably smarter if you're trekking through snow
Otherwise, normal layering rules apply. Have a scarf and gloves (ideally, with liners) and a good hat, then Thermalsilk and a winter coat were all I needed, but I would often have a niceish sweatshirt layered in there as we often had dinner plans and I didn't want to violate any dress-code norms.
Pretty similar to NYC in winter (because Gulf Stream). But then, I don't consider NYC especially cold for the most part; it's basically mid-Atlantic relative to New England much less northern Midwest.
In fact, there are areas of Iceland (generally long stretches of road where the wind can funnel through valleys) where the wind can knock cars or buses clear off the road.
Generally, they issue weather advisories for that sort of thing, but that would have been handy to know in advance to check for.
It's cold. The temp is cold, but the wind is rough. Expect lots of layers, gloves, and hats pretty much all the time in the winter. I lived in Denver for a couple of years and Iceland felt much colder.
