For one day only: a quickie return of summer

FMI says temperatures higher than +20°C have never been recorded this late in the autumn before

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By Salla Stotesbury and Kari-Otso Nevaluoma
     
      Believe it or not, but on Friday afternoon there were people out and about in Helsinki wearing quilted jackets and woollen caps.
      And yet it would have made a lot of sense to wear something a good deal lighter. After all, in many locations in Southern Finland, Friday marked the warmest-ever last day of September.
      According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, temperatures higher than +20 degrees Celsius have never been recorded this late in the autumn before.
      And in some places such records have been kept already for quite some time, namely from the early 19th century.
     
Friday’s highest reading was recorded in the southern town of Porvoo, where the mercury rose to a respectable 22.3°C.
      The previous highest temperature for the last day of September was the 19.3°C that was measured in the city of Lahti in 2000.
      Other parts of Southern Finland also received their fair share of the one-day heatwave.
      In Helsinki, too, the record books were rewritten, as a comfortable temperature of 21.9°C was observed in the district of Kumpula.
     
The investigative journalists of Helsingin Sanomat did their best to find the warmest spot in the downtown area. Digital thermometers in the journalists' bags monitored the weather, with the sensors hanging outside.
      Already around noon sun worshippers were seen in schoolyards, in the parks, and on the grassed terraces in front of the new Music Centre.
      In the early afternoon the first picnic parties, young lovers, and beach volleyball players made their appearance.
     
It seems that the last day of September marked the last knockings of the summer.
      Already on Saturday the weather was distinctly cooler in the entire country.
      This was a shame in more than one respect - it would have been a lot more impressive to beat the all-time record October temperature (still standing at 19.4°C) than to have to be content with "the warmest-ever last day of September".
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 1.10.2011


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Friday is likely to be a record warm last day of September hereabouts (30.9.2011)

Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

SALLA STOTESBURY AND KARI-OTSO NEVALUOMA / Helsingin Sanomat
salla.stotesbury@sanoma.fi, kari-otso.nevaluoma@hs.fi