Finland sees slightly warmer May than usual

The average temperature in May was close to or slightly higher than normal in most parts of the country, according to Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

Rainfall was somewhat lighter than normal in many places. The whole spring was mostly near typical in terms of both temperature and rainfall, said the FMI in a press release on Wednesday.

According to FMI, the average temperature in May was normal or higher than usual in most parts of Finland.

In Northern Lapland, the average temperature was around 5–7 degrees Celsius, in Central and Southern Lapland around 7–9 degrees Celsius and elsewhere in the country around 9–11 degrees Celsius. East Lapland was exceptionally warm.

At the start of the month, temperatures were cooler than usual for the time of the year. After that, most of the month was warmer than usual: summery temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius occurred in the southern and central parts of the country for about ten days and in the north for about five days. Temperatures cooled again at the end of the month.

The highest temperature of the month, 25.1 degrees Celsius, was measured at the observation stations in the Niinisalo Airport in Kankaanpää on 22 May and the observation station in Lepaa, Hattula on 24 May. These were also the only readings exceeding 25 degrees Celsius in May.

The month’s lowest temperature, minus 13.4 degrees Celsius, was recorded on 3 May at the Näkkälä observation station in Enontekiö.

The amount of rain in May was normal or lighter than usual in many places. The rainfall in Salla was even unusually low. On the other hand, some places in Northern Lapland had more rainfall than usual, even an unusually high amount in Utsjoki.

The highest amount of precipitation in May, 61 mm, was recorded at the Kirakkajärvi observation station in Inari. The greatest amount of precipitation in a single day, 39.7 millimetres, was measured in Pulju, Kittilä on 17 May. The least precipitation in May was recorded at the Kotka Rankki observation station, 12.8 millimetres.

In Mid-May, there were still several dozens of centimetres of snow at observation stations in the northern part of the country, but by the end of May, the snow had melted away from all observation stations of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Ground discharges of lightning numbered about 2700, which is significantly below the average for 1960–2021 of about 8000.

The number of hours of sunshine in May was largely higher than usual, even exceptionally high in the southwest.