Lapland heading for possible -30 degrees Celsius this week
Poor driving conditions on slippery winter roads over the weekend in southern and eastern Finland will not improve until later in the week, according to Yle’s forecast.
Snow was set to start on Monday, bringing 10 – 20 cm of fresh snowfall over the week, a situation which will not likely improve road conditions.
There are warnings issued for poor driving conditions from Monday until Wednesday across the regions of Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia, South Savo and North Karelia.
Yle meteorologist Matti Huutonen said that there won’t be a large amount of new snow in the south, but driving conditions will suffer due to wind blowing snow onto the roads, causing slippery conditions and poor visibility.
“You need to take care with poor driving conditions in coming days,” Huutonen advised, adding that the difficult conditions were part of winter in Finland.
Temperatures in southern and eastern areas will range between -5 to -10 degrees Celsius in the beginning of the week. But up north in Lapland, a high pressure system is expected to bring temperatures as cold as -30 degrees Celsius.
In Central Finland and Northern Ostrobothnia temperatures will range between -15 to -20 degrees Celsius.
Christmas week could be mild and slushy
While Friday is expected to be the coldest day this week, conditions are set to change after the weekend, according to Huutonen’s forecast.
The temperature will even rise above freezing in some areas, with intermittent shifts between mild and chilly next week.
He said a low pressure system is expected to head towards Finland from the west, bringing milder weather during Christmas week, including possible showers, which may melt some of the snow cover.
Huutonen said it remained unclear whether some areas will see a slushy Christmas or not.
But he acknowledged that it wasn’t a very promising outlook especially for areas in the south and south-west.
“The situation in Uusimaa is interesting… Will there be enough snowfall over the next few day so that it doesn’t have time to melt by Christmas?” Huutonen pondered.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Nunavut, Canada breaks 47 daily temperature records in 1st 6 days of October, CBC News
Greenland: Rise in sea level from ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica match worst-case scenario: study, CBC News
Finland: Temperatures headed toward -40C in Finnish Lapland, Yle News
Russia: What is happening with Arctic weather? Moscow wants to know, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: January temperatures about 10°C above normal in parts of northern Sweden, says weather service, Radio Sweden
