Country experiences warmer summer this year

The summer (June-August) this year was warmer than usual throughout the country, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

Compared to the statistical reference period 1981-2010, the greatest deviation was in Central Lapland, where the average temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the long-term average.

Such a deviation is rare; it occurs less frequently than once in ten years. The smallest deviation from the long-term average was measured in South Karelia near the eastern border, where the deviation was less than half a degree.

The highest summer temperature, 33.5 degrees Celsius , was measured in Kankaanpää, Niinisalo, on 25 June. The coldest temperature, minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, was measured in Naruska, Salla, on 28 August.

A total of 40 hot days were measured during the summer, with the long-term average being 33 hot days.

Meanwhile, the number of thunderstorms remained low during the summer. By the end of August, around 50,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes had been observed in Finland. This number of clearly under 130,000, the long-term average.

Only about 12,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were observed in August. The long-term average is almost 30,000.