People outdoors on a hot summer day, 25 July 2024. Last year, the nationwide average temperature in Finland was 1.1 degrees above the long-term average. LEHTIKUVA
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Finland is warming at an accelerated pace compared to the global average, with 2024 marking another year of significant temperature anomalies, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). Average temperatures in Finland were 3.4 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels last year, making 2024 the fourth warmest year on record for the country.
The warming trend was evident in the record number of “hot” days — defined as days with temperatures exceeding 25 degrees Celsius — which reached 71 over the year.
Meteorologist Pauli Jokinen of FMI explained that higher latitudes experience faster warming than regions closer to the tropics. “Heat peaks are rising, and colder years are becoming milder,” Jokinen said, highlighting a gradual upward trend in Finland’s average temperatures.
Historically, Finland’s average annual temperatures often fell below zero degrees Celsius before the industrial era. Today, temperatures consistently remain above freezing, with the warmest recorded year, 2020, reaching an average close to 5 degrees Celsius.
Last year showcased the variability of Finland’s climate, with an exceptionally cold winter transitioning into a record-breaking hot summer. January 2024 brought temperatures as low as -44.3 degrees Celsius in Lapland, marking the coldest point of the millennium so far. This was followed by a summer with long, intense heat waves attributed to climate change.
“While individual weather events can’t always be directly tied to climate change, studies confirm that long heat waves are becoming more frequent due to global warming,” Jokinen explained.
Finland’s weather patterns are not only becoming hotter but also wetter. The Finnish Climate Change Panel has previously warned of increasing rainfall and potential flooding as global temperatures rise. Jokinen noted that rainfall patterns already show significant regional variations, such as the wetter conditions experienced in western Finland last summer.
The country has also faced more extreme weather events. In November, hurricane-force winds of 33.5 meters per second were recorded off Finland’s west coast for the first time. However, FMI cautioned that more data is needed to understand how climate change might intensify storm activity in the region.
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
