Bjørn Sigvartsen, principal of Baksalen School in Hammerfest, was unwilling to let the children go outside, however, and asked their parents to come pick them up.
"The school isn't damaged, but it's not safe for the children to be outdoors alone," Sigvartsen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
Winds were so strong that they shattered the windows of a police car and sent objects that weren't pinned down flying.
Police officer Leif-Magne Thomassen said he and a colleague were sitting in their patrol car when they back window was blown out. "We tried to turn the car, but that just resulted in the side window getting blown out," Thomassen said. "We found it best to leave the car and seek cover."
An unusual lack of snow and ice has made the storm more dangerous, because sand, gravel and rocks aren't pinned down either. Hammerfest's population was being urged to stay indoors.
Meanwhile, down south in Oslo, meteorologists were predicting as much as 15 centimeters of snow would fall during the night and on Wednesday. Forecasters were unsure whether temperatures would rise or fall later in the week, depending on the movement of a severe coldfront over Russia.