2014 the second hottest year in Finnish history
Weather-wise, 2014 was an extraordinary period in many ways. According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute FMI, last year will go down as the second warmest in Finnish history.
According to the weather experts at FMI the only other year to beat the average heat record in Finland in 2014, was 1938, when it was just 0.15 degrees warmer. Temperatures in Finland were 1.6 degrees higher than the long term average – in other words warmer than the period from 1981 to 2010, FMI said.
The meteorologists noted that last winter was also remarkably mild, with the most striking thermal cycles occurring in February and March, July and August as well as the beginning of December.
Moreover during 2014 Finland was wrapped in a blanket of heat for 50 days – 14 days more than usual. The year’s highest temperature was recorded in Pori, western Finland, on August 4, when the mercury crept up to 32.8 degrees Celsius at the local railway station.
The coldest day of 2014 was on January 20, when a weather station in Kevojärvi, Utsjoki in the north measured a frigid low of -40.7 degrees Celsius.
The weather data show that conditions were colder than normal during two months of the year: January and June. Few people living in Finland will soon forget 2014’s wet and chilly Midsummer break, when temperatures plunged below 10 degrees Celsius in some areas. Even October highs in some areas were warmer than during Midsummer.
Environmental groups have frequently raised red flags about annual record high temperatures during the current millennium. In Finland the warmest years recorded so far have been in 1938, 2014, 1989, 2011 and 2000.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: How climate is changing the Arctic – The `Big Picture,` Deutsche Welle Iceblogger.
Greenland: Field notes from Greenland – From the glacier to the sea, Blog by Mia Bennett
Russia: Arctic methane: time bomb or “boogeyman”?, Analysis from Deutsche Welle’s Iceblogger
Sweden: Sweden’s environment minister positive on Lima deal, Eye on the Arctic
United States: Annual Arctic Report Card details continued warming on land and sea, Alaska Dispatch
