Finland logs warmest March on record, including in the North
Weather stations across Finland recorded record March temperatures, with one Arctic site logging its warmest reading in 100 years.
The Sodankylä Tähtelä observation station in Lapland registered a monthly average temperature of –0.7 C, up 1.5 C from the previous record in 1920.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute said unusually warm Marches in Arctic Finland have become more likely due to climate change.
“In the current climate, such warm March occurs in Sodankylä approximately once every 60 years, but without the warming effect of climate change, its probability would only have been about once every 400 years,” the FMI said in a statement on Tuesday.
Country-wide, the average temperature for March was 1.1 C, beating the previous record from 2007 where the average temperature for Finland was 0 C.
The warm March temperatures also drove snow levels down in northern and eastern Finland, with snow cover melting to record lows in some areas.
“On the last day of March, the snow cover had largely melted throughout the country, with the exception of Koillismaa and Lapland,” the FMI said.
Koillismaa, in North Ostrobothnia, and Lapland in Finland’s Arctic north saw snow depths of 20 to 80 cm, except in Kilpisjärvi, where it reached about 90 cm.
Comments, tips or story ideas? Contact Eilís at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Transport company seeks better N.W.T. infrastructure amid road closures, climate crisis, CBC News
Norway: Northern Norway feels the consequences of record-high fossil fuel emissions, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Sweden’s biggest carbon-capture bet moving ahead while others hit pause, Radio Sweden
United States: IMO set for landmark vote on shipping emissions as Washington threatens reprisals, Eye on the Arctic
