Finland sees unusual mild winter in south, wintry in north in Jan

The average temperature in January varied from 1 degrees Celsius in the southwestern archipelago to about minus 14 degrees Celsius in Northern Lapland, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

January was an unusually mild month in the south of the country and in places in the centre, which means that such high temperatures are recorded in January less often than once every ten years on average, said FMI in a press release on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the country, the average temperatures were close to or slightly above the long-term average.

The deviation from the long-term temperature norm ranged from approximately 3.5 degrees Celsius in Southern Finland to close to minus 1 degree Celsius in Lapland.

In the middle of the month, Finland was affected by foehn wind, and temperatures were exceptionally high for a few days at several weather observation stations of the FMI.

The highest temperature for the month, 9.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded at the Majakka observation station in Kristiinankaupunki, on January 17. The figure is the fifth highest temperature recorded in January during Finland's history of recording weather.

The lowest temperature for the month, minus 38.9 degrees Celsius, was recorded at the Tulppio observation station in Savukoski, on January 8.

Rainfall in January was mainly close to normal. The highest amount of precipitation was recorded in Rankki, Kotka, with 78.5 millimetres, and the lowest in Kevo, Utsjoki, with 23.3 millimetres.

By the end of the month, the southern and western coasts were snow-free in places. Elsewhere, snow depths ranged from 10 centimetres inland in the south and west to 98 centimetres in Kilpisjärvi.

In late January, snow depths in the southern and central parts of the country and in northern Ostrobothnia were unusually or exceptionally low in many places. Snow depth was generally 10 to 25 centimetres below average.

In Lapland, however, snow depth was slightly above average in places.