Small lakes fill up in unseasonably warm and rainy autumn
Reindeer benefit from lack of snow
The unexpected weather fluctuations and unseasonably mild temperatures in November have had far-reaching effects on the lives of many Finns.
Reindeer in Finnish Lapland have been grazing on moss on green snowless meadows, and log-laden lorries have been stuck in muddy forest roads. Ice on lakes has grown weak in many places, and just a few months after an unusually dry summer, the water level in lakes and rivers is high again.
Small lakes in the south, southwest and west of Finland have filled up. However, the Finnish Environment Institute says that the water levels in Finland’s ten largest lakes are still below long-term averages.
The greatest beneficiaries of the situation are residents of rural areas, whose wells are filling up again after the summer drought. Wintertime precipitation - be it in the form of rain or snow - has the advantage over summer rain in that there is little evaporation during the cold season.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute says that late November this year has been unusually mild; temperature records were set in many communities, especially in the west of Finland. In Kauhava, for instance, the temperature rose to 10.5 degrees Celsius this weekend, which is one degree above the previous record set for the same date exactly 20 years earlier.
Earlier there had been up to half a metre of snow in places, but it started to melt in November. On Monday morning there was snow only in Kainuu, Koillismaa, as well as Central and Northern Finnish Lapland.
Previous years in which a thick blanket of early snow disappeared from Southern and Central Finland and Oulu province before December include 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1998.
A 100 per cent good thing", says Viljo Huru who raises reindeer in Ivalo. It appears that reindeer in the area will make it through the winter on moss and grass that grows in the forest, without resorting to supplemental feeding.
Huru nevertheless hopes that the snow would come on time - dry, and in large amounts - without turning into slush, and without fluctuations in temperature.
When the soil can breathe through the snow bank, reindeer are able to reach it. If the temperature fluctuates, the ground freezes, the moss and grass start growing fungus, and reindeer have a harder time finding enough food.
The November thaw after previous frosts has caused problems for timber transport from forests. "We have had to restrict transports, as roads have turned soft", noted Jari Erämies, who owns a haulage company. He had trouble bringing a load of birch from Hartola to the Kuusanniemi factory.
Erämies expects the Finnish Road Administration to put up signs restricting vehicle weight on some roads.
Previously in HS International Edition:
Weather expert: This summer is driest in Finland for a century (11.8.2006)
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 28.11.2006 - TODAY |
Small lakes fill up in unseasonably warm and rainy autumn
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