The 984-square-kilometre (380 sq mi) municipality is the 118th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Notodden is the 94th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 13,025. The municipality'spopulation density is 14.3 inhabitants per square kilometre (37/sq mi) and its population has increased by 4.2% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
On 1 January 1913, the newly-designatedkjøpstad (town) ofNotodden (population: 4,821) was separated fromHeddal Municipality to form a separate self-governing town as anenclave within Heddal Municipality. This left Heddal with 2,890 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of theSchei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Heddal Municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Notodden Municipality:[7]
The municipality (originally the town) is named after a smallcotter's farmstead (husmannsplass) located on the oldTinne farm since this was the original site of the town (near the mouth of the riverTinnelva at the lakeHeddalsvatnet). The first element is derived from the wordnót which means "tofish using a seine". The last element is the definite singular form ofodde which means "headland". Thus it is a "headland for net fishing".[4]
Thecoat of arms was granted on 11 August 1939. The officialblazon is"Azure, apale wavy and four lightning boltsin saltireargent" (Norwegian:På blå bunn en loddrett sølvelv som sender lynstråler av sølv til begge sider). This means the arms have a bluefield (background) and thecharge is a wavy vertical bar and fourlightning bolts emanating from the centre and making an X-shape. The charge has atincture ofargent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The design symbolizes that Notodden was created by the exploitation ofhydroelectric power on the riverTinnelva whenNorsk Hydro started its operations with saltpeter production and power development in 1905. The vertical bar represents the Tinnfosswaterfall along the river and the lightning bolts represent electricity. The arms were designed by Jens Høibø. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[8][9]
Themunicipal council(Kommunestyre) of Notodden is made up of 41 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by politicalparty.
The municipality is located inAust-Telemark, along the border withBuskerud. Notodden Municipality includes the lands between the lakesTinnsjå andHeddalsvatnet lake. The riversTinnelva andHeddøla both run through the municipality. TheBlefjell mountains are located in the northern part of the municipality.
Notodden has ahumid continental climate (Dfb), with cold winters and mild summers. Situated inland at low altitude in the Telemark region, it is one of the warmer towns in Norway during summer. The weather station atNotodden Airport has been recording since March 1970 (temperature and wind speed). Precipitation data is from a different station in Notodden. The all-time high temperature 33.3 °C (91.9 °F) was recorded on 27 July 2018.
Climate data for Notodden Airport 1991–2020 (20 m, avg high/low 2003-2024, precipitation days 1961–90, extremes 2002–2020)
In 2008, the Notodden council decided to end the twin city agreements with Ilisalmi, Nyköping, and Stelle. At the same time Suwałki was approved as a new twin city.[41][42]