Rain and wind await Finland for Midsummer weekend
The upcoming holiday weekend will be wet and windy, according to forecasters, with the Midsummer break featuring a low pressure front moving in from the south-west, bringing rain and wind nationwide.
Over the Midsummer holiday many residents heading out to the countryside to enjoy food, festivities and fearing bad weather that usually arrives anyway. This year it appears that Mother Nature will continue her tradition of bringing clouds, rain – and even a summer storm to the party.
A particularly strong low pressure system coming in from the south west is expected to bring wind and rain to Finland on Friday, Midsummer Eve.
The low pressure system will bring rain across virtually the entire country at least at some point during Friday, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute’s (FMI) forecast.
Friday’s weather still hard to predict
However, FMI said on Thursday it’s still too difficult to predict the direction and severity of the coming low pressure.
But the forecasters do expect that gusty winds – and even localised thunderstorms – will likely hit much of the country at least at some point during Midsummer Eve.
It is expected to be less windy on the southern coast, from Finland’s southernmost city of Hanko to the country’s eastern border, with sea wind speeds of 12 metres per second expected.
Quite a bit of rain is expected across southern and southeast areas on Friday night, as well. The rain will be heaviest in Ostrobothnia during the afternoon, according to FMI.
Rain in Lapland
The rainy weather is expected to arrive to Lapland’s Rovaniemi during the mid afternoon, where a thunderstorm is also expected to make an appearance later in the evening.
Expected daytime high temperatures vary quite a bit, even locally, according to FMI’s forecast. It will be around 16 degrees in Celsius in the south, about 19 degrees in the south east.
On the west coast temperatures will range from 12-15 degrees, while in central Finland it’ll be around 17 degrees. Most of Lapland will be between 12-14 degrees, with the exception of the very far north east of the region, where the thermometer is expected to reach 18 degrees.
Friday: Winds to hit southwest
The Åland Islands will likely take the brunt of the storm, which is expected to bring wind speeds of 21 metres per second to the autonomous group of islands in the Finnish Archipelago.
Åland’s coast guard station chief Kim Westerman said the approaching weather doesn’t appear to be a normal summer storm at all.
“The weather will be more severe than we’re used to,” he said, recommending that boaters keep a close watch on weather forecasts in order to see where the storm front is and which direction the wind is blowing, because the winds are expected to shift in direction significantly.
He recommended that seafarers should really take a moment to consider whether to head out at all when the winds are at their strongest, saying that everyone in boats should be wearing floatation devices while on the water.
Related stories from around the North:
Finland: Finland expecting less blue-green algae blooms than in previous years, YLE News
Norway: Norway’s Arctic islands crush May heat records, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Record heatwave in the Arctic, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Sweden faces midsummer strawberry shortage due to unfavourable weather, Radio Sweden
