Little rain and a new temperature record in October

According to the statistics of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the average temperature in October was approximately 1 degree higher than usual in the southern and central parts of the country. In Lapland, however, the temperatures remained slightly below average. The month's highest temperature was 20.9°C, recorded on 14 October in Kruunupyy at Kokkola-Pietarsaari Airport. This is a new warm weather record for October in Finland. The previous record, measured in 1985 in Helsinki at Malmi airfield, was exceeded by up to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

None of Finland's monthly cold weather records have been broken in the 21st century. Instead, the Finnish warm temperature records have already been broken six times. This October's lowest temperature was -18.7°C, recorded in Vuotso, Sodankylä, on 29 October.

Thermal winter began in Lapland

Precipitation levels remained below average in the South as well as the North. Rainfall in the central parts of the country was close to the long-term average. According to preliminary data, the month's highest amount of precipitation was 70.5 mm, recorded in Pötsönvaara, Ilomantsi. In contrast, the least rainfall was seen in Kilpisjärvi, Enontekiö, where the precipitation level was 11.8 mm. The highest amount of rainfall in one day, 27.6 mm, was measured in Kemiönsaari on 23 October.

The weather grew colder for several days towards the end of October, and thermal winter began in most parts of Lapland around 22 October. At the end of the month, there was snow mainly in Northern and Central Lapland, with a snow cover of approximately 2–10 cm.

Further information:

Weather statistics for October (in Finnish)

Weather statistics from the climate service, tel.  0600 1 0601 (EUR 4,01/min + local network charge)Weather forecasts from the meteorologist on duty 24h/day tel. 0600 1 0600 (EUR 3,85/min + local network charge)