Climate change could lead to darker winters in Helsinki

Little snow and increasing cloudiness in store

print this

Climate change is likely to lead to darker winter conditions in the Helsinki region.
     Meteorologist Reija Ruuhela of the Finnish Meteorological Institute expects that psychological problems linked with pervasive darkness could become a serious problem in Finland.
     Even if the climate were to become more Central European, the amount of sunlight would not increase.
     In the coming decades, snow will be rarer, leaving the ground black. Cloudiness is likely to increase, and more rain should come down.
     
“How will people cope when the environment does not favour efficiency”, Ruuhela asks.
     Under worst-case scenarios, cloudiness in January will increase by nearly six per cent. Correspondingly, in the summer there would be slightly fewer clouds than there are now.
     
Already now, 85 per cent of 35-year-olds have noticed that the change of seasons affects their behaviour. Two out of five experience uncomfortable symptoms from the lack of sunlight, says researcher Timo Partonen of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
      The symptoms include poorer quality of sleep, which affects the state of alertness. There is an increase in appetite, especially for sweet foods. People exercise less, and gain weight.
     
There has been little research into the effect that climate change has on society and on people’s health. In other countries, malaria and other diseases carried by insects are known to be on the increase.
     If ticks increase here, for instance, it could lead to a greater frequency of lyme disease. A longer growing season can be hard for those with allergies, and the hottest summer days can be difficult for older people.
     Ruuhela has studied the grim topic of how weather correlates with suicides in research examining data going back to 1971.A lack of sunlight from November through March would seem to correlate with the number of suicides. Several per cent of the variation in the number of suicides might be explained by the weather.
     
Nearly everyone has experiences of the depressing effect that grey weather has on people.
      For instance, in December 2008 the sun shone in Southern and Western Finland for only 10-20 hours - about ten hours less than the average.
     The winter of 2007-2008 was exceptionally mild. There was no long-standing cover of snow in the area. There were only a few days of a thermal winter on the south coast in the late winter.
     Experts at the Finnish Meteorological Institute expect such winters to be come more common with climate change.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ice-free coastal waters in February considered exceptional, even in Southern Finland (13.2.2008)
  Warm weather reduces wholesale, but not retail price of electricity (19.1.2007)
  Cheaper electricity brought about by mild winter fails to translate into lower consumer prices (20.3.2009)
  Current winter is warmest of all time in Finland (29.2.2008)
  Climate change brings mild and rainy winter weather - and it is here to stay (18.2.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat