White Christmas looks like being a reality

The sharpest frosts will soon abate, but snow cover should remain across the country

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While sharp frosts and strong winds might be an unnerving experience to most people who have to go out of doors, the recent chilly weather has a bright reverse side.
     
”Thanks to the freeze, the probability of a white Christmas is high in the entire country”, says meteorologist on duty Niko Tollman from the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
      However, it is still early days as yet, and Tollman says that he dares not make any really accurate weather forecast for Christmas. The current sharp frosts are expected to get milder at the end of the week - at least in the north. However, the temperatures have gone down sufficiently in order that the snow cover is unlikely to melt before Christmas Eve.
      ”In the nothern parts of Finland the weather will get milder at the end of the week, when the westerly currents get stronger. Then the sharpest frosts of the week are over. In Helsinki, the air mass is likely to remain cold, with the temperature staying at -10-15°C”, Tollman reported.
     
In Lapland, the beginning of the week has been extremely chilly, but also very snowy.
      The highest snow drifts can be found in Sodankylä, where the thickness of snow is up to as much as 43 centimetres.
     
The coldest place is Salla, where the temperature was down as low as -33.9°C last night, a new record for the current winter. Temeperatures close to or below minus 30 have been recorded over a wide area of Lapland in the past few nights.
      The freezing weather has conveniently promoted the sales of anti-freeze for cars in Lapland.
      However, in some places the mercury has gone down to such extremes that even glycol does not help. When things approach -40°C there is not much to do except wait for a thaw.
     
At the same time, petrol stations across the country are complaining about a lack of customers resulting from the freeze.
      ”People are afraid of the frosty weather and do not drive more than is necessary”, notes Mika Kolehmainen from a service station in Hankasalmi in Eastern Finland.
      The fewer customers, the longer one can spend chatting with them, the sales assistants say. The most popular topic is obviously the cold weather.
      ”People say that it is nice when it is properly cold in the winter, and not the drizzle and sleet they have become used to”, Kolehmainen notes.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Meteorological Institute predicts freeze will continue until Christmas (15.12.2009)

Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

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