Spring and flowers arrive in Helsinki

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One of the first wagtails of the spring hops about between the deckchairs brought outside. The rays of the April sun warm the red wall of Töölö’s Regatta Café and the door swings open as more customers find their way out to the sunny patio.
      The sunny weather certainly brings out the outdoor café customers.
      “The weekends are really busy”, Regata saleswoman Mari Savolainen confirms.
      Customer Marjut Mäkelä has made herself comfortable in one of the rocking chairs. Her grandchild Konsta Mäkelä inspects his grandmother from under the covers in a pram with a contented expression on his face.
      “It’s like waking up from winter sleep”, Mäkelä marvels.
     
Wrapped up in a red blanket Selja Kuisma enjoys the spring, despite the sea breeze, which is still on the cold side. Kuisma has come to Regatta to enjoy the first spring rays with her friends Erkko Väisänen and Tiia Selenius and their two-month-old son William.
      The budding spring and Väisänen’s acoustic guitar ensure the atmosphere remains buoyant.
      “We already uncorked the barbecue season last weekend and the plan is to continue this Saturday”, Kuisma says and reports that she even took out her bicycle this week, after having had it hanging up for the winter months.
      “Über cool”, Väisänen adds and produces a couple of chords from his guitar to honour the spring.
     
The abundance of flowers on people’s private yards also attests to the coming of the spring.
      The City of Helsinki, in turn, will plant its flowers in public places only after the first of May.
      Weatherwise the planting would already be possible, but the City of Helsinki Public Works Department has decided to postpone the setting up of the flowerbeds until after the May Day merrymaking - a good many of them might not survive the revels.
      The spring sun will favour the Helsinki residents also over the weekend. Cloudless skies and the year's warmest temperatures so far have been predicted for Saturday. According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute the highest daytime temperature may reach 15°C, and in the sun it will feel even warmer.
      For Sunday the weather is expected to get cooler and cloudier.
     
The dry and sunny weather also shows up in the increased number of ground and grass fires in the capital area. The Meteorological Institute has issued a forest-fire warning for the Province of Uusimaa, the southern parts of the Province of Häme, and the entire Southwestern Finland.
      “So far we have only had a few fires, but if the weather continues like this, the next two weeks will be extremely critical”, warns fire chief Raimo Laakso from the Central Uusimaa Rescue Department.
      The most common reason for a ground fire at this time of the year is a cigarette butt that is thrown carelessly into the dry grass from last summer.
      Usually the damage remains small in Helsinki grassland fires. “There aren’t many places where the fire could spread unhindered. Usually a couple of square metres of grass will burn up”, says fire chief Juha Nieminen from the Helsinki Rescue Department.
      Things get a deal more complicated in the next phase, however, when brush fires in the early summer can do a great deal of damage. The scale and number will depend on how much rain we get over the next few weeks.


Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

Helsingin Sanomat