Midsummer traffic eases Friday evening

Rail services affected by derailment in Toijala

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Highway traffic for the Midsummer weekend eased by Friday, as Finns flocked from the cities to the countryside to celebrate the traditional summer festival.
      A few traffic accidents were reported, and one drowning in Luoto in Ostrobothnia.
     
Much the same problems will be found in the other direction on Sunday as at least some of those spending a long weekend away come back home. Generally, however, the return traffic at Midsummer is less fearsome, since many choose this juncture to begin their vacation and will thus stay at the summer cabin.
     
This year's transport situation has been given an additional twist by the derailment of a number of railway goods wagons in Toijala, close to Tampere. This is likely to cause delays and cancellations for trains between Hämeenlinna and Tampere and Tampere and Turku.
      Some trains between these points will be replaced temporarily by a bus connection.
     
The weather looks to be pretty changeable for the long weekend.
      On the face of current predictions, the driest spots in the country will be in Western Lapland and the westerly parts of Oulu Province.
      Elsewhere in Finland, revellers can expect to encounter scattered showers, with Saturday promising to be the wettest day.
      The silver lining in these clouds is that the rains will mean forest fire warnings are not in force anywhere in the country, so in has been possible to burn the traditional Midsummer bonfires everywhere.
      Temperatures, however, are not exactly going to be tropical anywhere: the mercury could struggle up to 20°C in the south today, but that will not be repeated before Sunday or Monday at the earliest.


Links:
  Finnish Road Administration - real-time traffic information
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

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