March witnesses near-record warm weather

The warm weather record for March was nearly broken owing to storm-force gusts.

According to the Met Office’s statistics, March in the northern part of the country was 1-2 degrees Celsius and in the southern and central parts 2-3 degrees Celsius milder than normal. This was the fourth consecutive March warmer than the long-term average.

The highest temperature of the month, 17.4 °C, was measured on March 27 in Jomala in the Åland Islands. The temperature count differed by only a decimal from the Finnish March warm weather record measured at Helsinki Airport in 2007.

When these high temperatures for the month were measured around the country, the storm-force gusts in from the west and northwest caused power failures, especially in the southern and central parts of the country.

The month’s lowest temperature, minus 29.4 °C, was recorded in the Muonio Village on March 7.

The precipitation was 30-40mm in large tracts of the country, which is fairly normal. However, in some parts of the west coast, central parts, and in the Enontekiö area, the precipitation levels were about one and a half times the average. The highest amount of precipitation, 100.7mm, was recorded in Kilpisjärvi and the lowest of 10.9mm in Lappeenranta.

As the month changed, there was less snow than on average in the southern and western Finland, with some of these areas remaining completely free of snow. There was over 50cm snow in north of the area stretching from North Karelia to the Bay of Bothnia.

At the end of March, the most measure of 138cm snow was found in Kilpisjärvi, which is 40cm more than the usual.