Snow bands in Finland are most common on the southern coast

Favourable conditions for convective sea-effect snowfall, known as snow bands, occur in Finland on average on three days a year. On average, the heaviest sea-effect snowfall occurs on the southern coast more often than in other coastal areas.

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Snow bands which, converted to the water equivalent, accumulated more than 9 mm in one day were more frequent on the southern coast of Finland. However, the maximum volume of snow (12-15 mm/day) was similar on the southern and western coast.

Favourable areas for snow bands and their frequency have not been previously studied in Finland. The results of the recent study can be considered indicative as the research data used covered a relatively short period of time: years 2000-2010.

Further information:

Researcher Taru Olsson, Finnish Meteorological Institute, taru.olsson@fmi.fi

Olsson, T., Luomaranta, A., Jylhä, K., Jeworrek, J., Perttula, T., Dieterich, C., Wu, L., Rutgersson, A., and Mäkelä, A.: Statistics of sea-effect snowfall along the Finnish coastline based on regional climate model data, Adv. Sci. Res., 17, 87–104, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-17-87-2020, 2020.

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