2021 sees normal average temperature

The average temperature in 2021 in Finland was quite normal, according the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

The average temperature for the whole country was +2.8 degrees Celsius, which is just one tenth below the long-term average for 1991‒2020, said the FMI in a press release.

The previous time that Finland had a cooler year was in 2012, when the average temperature was +2.1 degrees Celsius.

The most significant deviation in temperature was recorded in June, when the average temperatures for the month rose to the highest levels in the history of record-keeping in southern and central areas of the country, and in parts of the north. July was also significantly warmer than average. February, September, and December were nevertheless significantly colder than usual.

The highest temperature in 2021, 34.0 degrees Celsius, was measured on 15 July at the Asemantaus observation station in Heinola. The record low for the year was recorded on 20 February when the temperature dropped to minus 39.7 degrees Celsius at Kevojärvi in Utsjoki.

In most of the country, annual precipitation was close to normal or slightly above. However, in central and northern parts of the country, precipitation was unusually heavy, at levels which occur less than once in ten years on average.

However, in parts of the southwest of the country and in northernmost Finnish Lapland, precipitation was below the long-term averages. In Kevo, in Utsjoki, precipitation was unusually low last year.

According to preliminary data, the location with the greatest amount of precipitation last year Paljakka in Puolanka, which got 881.8 millimetres.

Total precipitation in 2021was lowest in Kevo, in Utsjoki, 323.3 millimetres. The greatest amount of precipitation recorded in a single day was 73.5 millimetres in Kotila in Puolanka on 19 June.

The maximum depth of snow, 106 centimetres, was measured in Paljakka in Puolanka on 10 April.

December 2021 was colder than normal in all parts of the country. In a few coastal stations the month was unusually cold, with temperatures reached once every 10 years or less.

Average temperatures varied between near zero in the southwest archipelago to about minus 15 degrees in Utsjoki. The average temperature for the month was 2‒6 degrees below the long-term average.

The lowest temperatures for December occurred early in the month, falling to about -30 degrees in many parts of Finnish Lapland.

The lowest temperature for December, minus 35.2 degrees, was measured on Independence Day, 6 December, in the village of Muonio.

In mid-December, the chill eased, and daytime temperatures rose briefly to above freezing all the way up to southern parts of Finnish Lapland. The highest temperature for the month, +11.0 degrees, was measured on 18 December at Mariehamn Airport. This was near the record-high temperature for December (+11.3 degrees), which was set in Pori and Kokemäki on 20 December 2015.