Rainy August ends exceptionally warm summer: FMI

The average summer temperature from June through August varied between just over + 18 degrees Celsius in the south to + 13 degrees in Northern Lapland, according to Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

In southern and central parts of Finland new summer heat records were set at many observation stations, said the FMI in a press release on Thursday.

For example, in Kaisaniemi in Helsinki the average summer temperature, 18.9 degrees, was the highest since 1844, when keeping records began. In northern parts of the country the summer was mostly unusually warm, which means that such high readings occur less than once every ten years on average.

Measured against the average temperature of the whole country, the past summer was the second warmest in the statistics that have been kept since the early 20th century. The summer was warmer than this year in 1937.

The highest temperature of the summer, 34.0 degrees Celsius, was measured on 15 July at the Asemantaus observation station in Heinola. The lowest temperature, minus 3.6 °C, was measured on 27 August at the Naruska observation station in Salla.

The June-August period had a total of 50 hot days, when the temperature exceeded 25 degrees; the long term average is 33 hot days in a summer.

Of the individual observation stations, the greatest number of hot days in June-August was 42, in Anjala in Kouvola. If the hot days in May are included, the total was 43. At the Anjala observation station, hot temperatures were recorded on 31 consecutive days, from 18 June to 18 July, which is the longest unbroken period of temperatures exceeding 25 degrees since 1961.

In lightning, the number of ground discharges in June-August was slightly below 130,000, which is about 7,000 above the average. The Aatu and Paula storms in June helped push the number of ground discharges to above the average level, even though late summer lightning activity was fairly low.

The number of hours of sunshine measured at the observation stations in the summer months was higher than usual.

According to Finnish Meteorological Institute statistics, the average temperature for August varied between about +16 degrees on the south coast and just over +10 degrees in Central and Northern Lapland.

In a large part of the country the average temperature was close to the long-term average, or slightly below.

The greatest deviations were in the south of the country where the average temperature was about half a degree below average in parts.

The highest temperature in August, 25.7 degrees Celsius , was measured on the 13th of the month both at the Anjala measuring station in Kouvola and the Koivuniemi observation station in Virolahti.

This was also the only hot day in the month. August typically has nine hot days. The highest temperature of August this year was unusually low. The most recent time that the highest temperature of the month was lower than the highest temperature of August this year was August 2000.

The lowest temperature of the month, minus 3,6 degrees, was measured on 27 August at the Naruska observation station in Salla.

August was clearly more rainy than usual in many areas. Especially in an area extending from North.