Long-awaited snow finally lands in Helsinki

Traffic chaos mixed with delight at a return to "normal winter weather"

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Many Helsinki commuters cursed silently - or rather more publicly - on Wednesday morning after realising that they would be late for work by more than an hour.
      Local trains were either too full or not running at all.
      Some stood at the downtown Bulevardi tram-stop waiting for the No.6 tram that would never arrive. Traffic in the Finnish capital was in a tangle. The long-lost snow had arrived, and it brought a modicum of chaos with it.
     
The Helsinki streets finally look as they should at winter time – covered with the white stuff. The light reflecting from the snow makes the street views look positively more upbeat. Even in the evenings the city now manages to present itself as not quite so grey.
      While it may cause traffic mayhem, the snow seemed to be broadly welcomed like a fondly-remembered old acquaintance, and it enticed the locals and the visitors alike to step outside and engage in ice skating or sledding. The delightfully frosty weather also gave a reason to step into a café for a steaming cup of hot chocolate.
      Friends Petra Metsälä and Angela Farris sipped their drinks looking satisfied in the Café Engel next to the Senate Square. Farris explains that the temperature here is twenty degrees lower than in Australia, from where she has come for a visit.
     
In the Sepänpuisto Park in the district of Punavuori, snow is a long wished-for caller. “This must be the first time this winter that the entire Sepänpuisto hill is covered with snow”, rejoices Anu Tanhuanpää.
      Tanhuanpää, who has come to the park to sled with her children, explains how the knees of the city children’s winter wear have been frayed due to the lack of snow. “In the parks there has only been sand instead of snow.”
      But with or without worn-out knees in their outfits, the two- and four-year-old children balanced enthusiastically on their sleds with their friends.
     
Jazz sounds filled the air at the seasonal ice rink in Helsinki’s central railway station square, which started to get filled up with happy tourists in the afternoon. German Maria Eistrup, who came with her children to visit family friends in Helsinki, was more than pleased that during their one-week visit they managed to experience even a decent-sized blizzard.
     
As for how long the unfamiliar white blanket can be expected to stay around, the answer is: only a day or two.
      The Finnish Meteorological Institute will promise no more than that the snow will stay until the beginning of the weekend, but after that a warm front will come through to make things wet and messy. Snow in late March - even when it causes excited headlines as the first major dump of the winter - does not usually hang out in the capital for very long.
      At least in the south of Finland, the water should be underfoot rather than coming from the sky, as the forecast for the Helsinki region is mainly fair, with weekend temperatures around +5°C.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Climate change brings mild and rainy winter weather - and it is here to stay (18.2.2008)
  Ice rink opens at Helsinki railway station square (24.11.2006)
  Winter holiday week exceptionally warm in Lapland (25.2.2008)

See also:
  A selection of pictures (captions in Finnish) of fun in the snow in Helsinki.

Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

Helsingin Sanomat