Finland sees record warmest average temperature in March

The average temperature in March was record-high across almost the entire country, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).

Nearly every observation station of the FMI recorded a new record of the average temperature in March, said an official press release on Tuesday.

At most marine observation stations, the month did not break records but was still unusually warm.

According to the statistics, the average temperature in March varied from about plus 3 degrees Celsius in the southwest part of the country to about minus 2.5 degrees Celsius in Northern Lapland.

For example, the monthly average temperature at the Sodankylä Tähtelä observation station was minus 0.7 degrees, which is a new record in the 100-year observation history and exceeded the previous record from 1920 with as much as 1.5 degrees.

In the current climate, such warm March occurs in Sodankylä approximately once every 60 years, but without the warming effect of climate change, its probability would only have been about once every 400 years. In other words, climate change made the average temperature of the month approximately six times more likely and increased the temperature by approximately 1.9 degrees. The information is based on a peer-reviewed method by the FMI and the University of Helsinki.

The average temperature for the whole country in March was 1.1 degrees, which is also a new record.

The previous record was from 2007, when the average temperature for the whole country was 0.0 degrees.

The highest temperature in March was 12.6 degrees Celsius, measured at Asemantaus, Heinola, on 22 March.

The lowest temperature was minus 25.2 degrees, measured at Nuorgam, in Utsjoki, on 2 March.

March was drier than usual, in the southern and central parts of the country, and rainier than usual in the north.

The greatest amount of precipitation for March was 62,7 millimetres, recorded at the Kauppilankylä observation station in Teuva. The lowest amount of precipitation, 6.1 mm, was recorded at the Hanko Russarö observation station.

The greatest precipitation in a single day, 14.8 mm, was recorded at the Kangasniemi village observation station, on 1 March.

The warm March caused the snow to melt rapidly throughout Finland, and at the end of March, the amount of snow was record low in many areas of Eastern and Northern Finland.

On the last day of March, the snow cover had largely melted throughout the country, with the exception of Koillismaa and Lapland.

In North Karelia, North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, snow depth was 2–5 centimetres, in places, with the exception of Puolanka Paljakka, where the snow depth was 27 centimetres.

In Lapland and Koillismaa, snow depth was approximately 20–80 centimetres, with the exception of the northernmost area of Kilpisjärvi, where snow depth was approximately 90 centimetres at the end of the month.

The number of sunshine hours was widely close to normal levels.