Surnadal Municipality

Surnadal^ⓘ is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Skei. Other villages in Surnadal include Bøverfjorden, Glærem, Moen, Stangvik, Surnadalsøra, Sylte, Todalsøra, and Åsskard.

The 1,366-square-kilometre (527 sq mi) municipality is the 68th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Surnadal is the 164th most populous municipality in Norway, with a population of 5,953. The municipality's population density is 4.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (11/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 0.02% over the previous 10-year period.

A mild climate and rich soil make Surnadal well suited for agriculture. The local economy is based on agriculture, forestry, and industrial production, in addition to services.

The parish of Surnadal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1858, the eastern district of the municipality (population: 2,684) was separated to form the new Rindal Municipality. This left Surnadal Municipality with 3,105 residents. On 1 January 1877, part of Stangvik Municipality (population: 50) was transferred to Surnadal Municipality. In 1879, part of Surnadal Municipality (population: 83) was transferred to the neighboring Stangvik Municipality. On 1 January 1886, the Møklegjerdet farm (population: 29), just west of the village of Glærem, was transferred from Stangvik Municipality to Surnadal Municipality. On 1 January 1897, the Sjøflot farm (population: 27) was also transferred from Stangvik Municipality to Surnadal Municipality.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, all of Åsskard Municipality (population: 1,014) and most of Stangvik Municipality (population: 1,386) were merged with Surnadal Municipality (population: 3,534) to create a new, larger Surnadal Municipality with a total population of 5,934.

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Surnadalen valley (Old Norse: Súrnardalr). The first element is the genitive case of the river name Surna. The meaning of the river name is unknown. The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Surendalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Surnadal.

The coat of arms was granted on 27 October 1989. The official blazon is "Vert, two bends engrailed above and invected below argent" (Norwegian: På grøn grunn ein skråstilt sølv tvillingstreng laga med taggesnitt). This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is two bends that have wavy edges. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The wavy lines represent the many rivers and streams in the municipality, the most notable one being the Surna. The arms were designed by Even Jarle Skoglund. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

The Church of Norway has five parishes (sokn) within Surnadal Municipality. It is part of the Indre Nordmøre prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Møre.