The Norwegian town is located on the Atlantic Ocean, and benefits from the Gulf Stream even if it is at about 70 degrees north latitude. The average high in the summer is around 60 degrees, and the average high in the winter is just below the freezing mark. In other words, most people could handle it reasonably well - considering the reward for staying is to live in spectacular scenery.
People have been living here since the end of the Ice Age, going back around 10,000 years. In the 1800s, Tromso picked up the nickname of the "Paris of the North." It's been speculated that visitors expected something of a frontier town when visiting here in that era, and were surprised that the people were quite sophisticated. Tromso went through World War II relatively undamaged, and picked up an airport in 1964 and a university in 1972.
If you like the Midnight Sun or Northern Lights, this is a good spot. There are about two months of non-stop light in the summer, and two more months of darkness in the winter. Our visit was in mid-June, and by chance we could only tour the town between midnight and 1 a.m. That's an odd time to walk around a city, but it offered a chance to see a place that wasn't dark and wasn't asleep at that hour. Mass transit lines were running and people were walking around the town even if almost all of the businesses were closed. Tromso makes a good impression even then.
Here's a video with suggestions on what to do when you're in the neighborhood.
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