Finnish Lapland hit by 30-year autumn warm spell

Lapland is currently experiencing an unusually warm spell, with temperatures significantly higher than usual for this time of year. In Kilpisjärvi, residents had a special reason to celebrate on Friday, as temperatures soared to 11.2 degrees Celsius.

“It’s been exceptionally warm. These types of events happen once every 30 years,” said Vendi Pelkonen, a meteorologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

When such occurrences are this rare, it means similar temperature readings are only expected once every three decades or more.

For comparison, the average high temperature for Kilpisjärvi in October so far has been just 2.8 degrees. From 1991 to 2020, the average temperature for all of October in Kilpisjärvi was -0.5 degrees. On this same day last year, 18 October, the high temperature was only -1.7 degrees.

Pelkonen explained that the unusual warmth may be due to overnight fog in the Kilpisjärvi area, which helped maintain the previous day’s warm temperature.

Warm weather to continue 

Once the sun came out, conditions remained sunny throughout the day, with the 11.2 degrees high recorded at 3:20pm after several hours of sunlight. There were 8 hours and 44 minutes of daylight in Kilpisjärvi on Friday.

According to Yle meteorologist Aleksi Lohtander, the warm weather is set to continue.

“Across the country, the weather will remain warmer than usual in the coming days. For example, in Sodankylä, the 5-day average for the daily high is 8.2 degrees, while the long-term average is just 1.9 degrees.”

“Elsewhere in Finland, temperatures will be 5-6 degrees above normal over the next few days. Even nighttime temperatures will remain well above the seasonal averages,” Lohtander predicted.

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This story is posted on Independent Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.