Heavy snow loads burden rooftops in Eastern and Northern Finland

Thickness of snow cover over one metre in Eastern Finland, while only a few centimetres in west

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Eastern and northern districts of Finland are suffering from snow loads way above average for this time of the year. In places the thickness of snow cover has already reached the one-metre mark.
      In certain areas, the snow piling up on rooftops is gradually reaching the point where it becomes dangerously heavy.
      At the same time the western coast of the country suffers from a snow situation way below average.
     
Finland's Environmental Administration has issued a warning, according to which the weight of snow in Eastern and Northern Finland and in Kainuu Province is approaching the bearing capacity of roof structures.
      At least in easterly municipalities like Puolanka, Ristijärvi, Sotkamo, Valtimo, and Ilomantsi, as well as in some Lapland communities, the weight of snow load is reaching 200 kilograms per square metre.
      Roof structures in Northern Finland have been designed to withstand load-factors of 200-220 kg/sq.m, whereas in Eastern Finland the corresponding tolerance limit has been set to 180-220 kg/sq.m.
      Flat roofs and wide rooftops of industrial buildings are in particular danger in this type of situation.
     
According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, so far the most snow - 120 centimetres - has been measured at Lieksa's Kivivaara, close to the Russian border.
      The neighbouring community of Nurmes has also reached the one-metre mark, as has the Rural District of Rovaniemi in the north.
      The thickness of snow cover is around 30 centimetres above average in many of the Lapland communities, and also in North Karelia in Eastern Finland the thickness of snow is 20-30 centimetres above what is normal for early February.
      Simultaneously the west of Finland suffers from lack of snow, with less than 10 centimetres in many areas. In the Vaasa area, for example, the snow thickness is 30 centimetres below average.
     
The Finnish Meteorological Institute explains that the difference between the eastern and western parts of the country is a result of the heavy precipitation in January.
      Whereas the rain and sleet that fell in the western and the southwestern parts of the country melted what little snow there was on the ground, it came down as snow in the colder areas of the north and the east.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Snow and icicles threaten to drop on pedestrians from roofs in Helsinki (3.2.2005)
  Wet snow causes roofs to collapse in Ostrobothnia (20.1.2003)

Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute
  Finland's Environmental Administration

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