Exceptionally warm spring ended in cool May

May was cooler than average. However, the average temperatures during the entire spring, i.e. March-May, were higher than usual in many places and exceptionally high in the south.

According to the statistics of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the average temperature in May was 6-9 degrees Celsius in the southern and central parts of the country and mostly 3-6 degrees Celsius in the northern part of the country. In most parts of the country, the monthly average temperature was colder than the long-term average, while in Lapland the temperature was close to the average.

The month’s highest temperature, 24.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Harabacka, Porvoo on 26 May. The lowest temperature of the month, -12.6 degrees Celsius, was measured in Naruska, Salla on 1 May.

The precipitation varied between 10 and 60 mm in May. In most parts of the country, the monthly rainfall was either close to normal readings or lower than usual. In the northern part of the country, in Pello village centre, in Kiutakönkää, Kuusamo and in Värriötunturi, Salla, precipitation levels were unusually low in places; in May, rainfall this low is measured once in ten years or more rarely. The lowest amount of precipitation during the month was 8.3 mm in the Pello village.

However, precipitation levels were higher than normal in some places in the southern and south-western parts of the country. At Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, the monthly rainfall was unusually high with 61.4 mm rainfall during the month.

At the end of May, there was still more than 60 cm of snow in central and northern Lapland at individual stations, and just under 50 cm on the last day of May. At several observation stations, the snow was the deepest or among the deepest measured for this time of the year in the station’s recorded history. On the last day of May, the deepest snow could be found in Kenttärova, Kittilä. The snow was measured at 48 cm which is the largest snow depth measured on the last day of May in the station's 18-year recorded history. In Pokka, Kittilä, the snow depth was 45 cm on the last day of May. This is the largest snow depth measured on the last day of May in the station's 49-year recorded history.

Warm winter changed into spring cooling towards summer

In the spring (March-May), the average temperature varied from approximately 5 degrees Celsius in the southern part of the country to less than -3 degrees Celsius in Northern Lapland. In most parts of the country, the average temperature was close to or slightly higher than normal. However, the average spring temperature on the southern coast was exceptionally high in many places, which means that such temperatures are seen in March–May once in ten years or even less frequently. March, which in southern and central Finland was unusually warm and in some places exceptionally warm, raised the spring’s average temperature. April was close to average throughout the country and May was colder than average.

The amount of precipitation in spring varied from approximately 46 mm in Western Lapland to nearly 170 mm in Southwest Finland. In the southern and western parts of the country and in Northern Lapland, precipitation levels were unusually high in some areas, which means that this amount of precipitation is measured on average once in ten years or even less frequently. In the rest of the country, precipitation levels were either normal or lower than normal. In Pello, this spring’s precipitation level was unusually low (45.8 mm); last time rainfall this low was measured in Pello in 1990.

More information:

Weather statistics from the Climate Service tel. 0600 1 0601 (4.01 €/min + local network charge) Weather forecasts from a meteorologist serving 24 h/day tel. 0600 1 0600 (3.85 €/ min + local network charge)