Mid-May was summery and warm, end of the month grew colder
Photo: Anni SimolaAccording to Finnish Meteorological Institute statistics, the average temperature in May was normal or higher than usual in most parts of Finland. In Northern Lapland, the average temperature was around 5–7 degrees Celsius, in Central and Southern Lapland around 7–9 degrees Celsius and elsewhere in the country around 9–11 degrees Celsius. East Lapland was exceptionally warm.
At the start of the month, temperatures were cooler than usual for the time of the year. After that, most of the month was warmer than usual: summery temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius occurred in the southern and central parts of the country for about ten days and in the north for about five days. Temperatures cooled again at the end of the month.
The highest temperature of the month, 25.1 degrees Celsius, was measured at the observation stations in the Niinisalo Airport in Kankaanpää on 22 May and the observation station in Lepaa, Hattula on 24 May. These were also the only readings exceeding 25 degrees Celsius in May. The month’s lowest temperature, -13.4 degrees, was recorded on 3 May at the Näkkälä observation station in Enontekiö.
May was exceptionally sunny in some places
The amount of rain in May was normal or lighter than usual in many places. The rainfall in Salla was even unusually low. On the other hand, some places in Northern Lapland had more rainfall than usual, even an unusually high amount in Utsjoki.
The highest amount of precipitation in May, 61 mm, was recorded at the Kirakkajärvi observation station in Inari. The greatest amount of precipitation in a single day, 39.7 millimetres, was measured in Pulju, Kittilä on 17 May. The least precipitation in May was recorded at the Kotka Rankki observation station, 12.8 millimetres.
In Mid-May, there were still several dozens of centimetres of snow at observation stations in the northern part of the country, but by the end of May, the snow had melted away from all observation stations of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
Ground discharges of lightning numbered about 2700, which is significantly below the average for 1960–2021 of about 8000.
The number of hours of sunshine in May was largely higher than usual, even exceptionally high in the southwest.
Average spring temperatures and precipitation levels were typical for the season
Finnish Meteorological Institute statistics showed that the average temperature for all of spring, i.e. March-May, varied between about five degrees Celsius on the south coast to just about four degrees below freezing in the north-west arm of Finnish Lapland. The average temperature was close to normal throughout the country; southern parts were slightly warmer than usual.
In a large part of the country, the rainfall in spring was normal or slightly higher than usual. Certain places in South and Central Lapland received less precipitation than usual. Spring precipitation was highest, 161.8 millimetres, at the Kotila observation station in Puolanka. Precipitation was lowest at the Pello observation station at 60.2 millimetres.
Further information:
Meteorologists use the word exceptional when the statistical likelihood of a weather phenomenon occurs on average three times or less in 100 years. A phenomenon is called rare if the average occurrence is less than once in ten years.
Weather statistics from the climate service tel. 0600 1 0601 (EUR 4,01/min + local network charge)