Coldest March in five years

According to statistics put out by the Finnish Meteorological Institute March was 2-5 degrees colder than average in many parts of the country. The greatest deviations in temperature were in eastern parts of Finland and in the north of Finnish Lapland. The last time that March was colder was in 2013.

The highest temperature in March, 8.6 degrees, was recorded in Jomala on the 25th of the month, and the lowest temperature, -35.7 degrees was at Kevojärvi in Utsjoki on the 7th. 

Precipitation in March varied from about 20 millimetres in the southwest and in Finnish Lapland to about 50 millimetres in North Karelia. Precipitation in the southwest an in Finnish Lapland was about half of what it is normally, which is unusual. On the other hand, Savo and North Karelia got more precipitation than normal. The highest precipitation at an observation station was at Koli in Lieksa, with 55.4 millimetres, and the lowest was in Muonio - 7.8 millimetres.

Snow depth at the end of the month varied between less than 10 centimetres on the southwest coast to more than a metre locally in North Karelia and Kainuu. In much of the country the amount of snow was slightly higher than usual for the period. In an area extending from Ostrobothnia to North Karelia there were unusually high snow levels - 20 to 30 centimetres above average.

The sun shone more than usual throughout the country. The greatest amount of sunlight, was recorded at the observation station in Utö - 194 hours, which is nearly 60 hours higher than the average.

Further information:

Weather statistics: http://ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/maaliskuu (in Finnish)

Meteorologists tweet about the weather on Twitter: @meteorologit