Sun and wind weaken Baltic Sea ice, making travel dangerous

Strong sunlight and winds have rapidly deteriorated ice conditions across the Baltic Sea, with shifting ice sheets and open cracks creating hazardous conditions, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reports.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute warns that recent warm winds from the west and south have pushed ice northward, particularly in the Bay of Bothnia, where compressed ice ridges now pose risks. In the Gulf of Finland, winds have driven ice toward the southern coast, while much of the open sea has already melted.

On Sunday, Helsinki rescue services reported a man fell through thin ice in the city’s Mustikkamaa area but managed to climb out unaided. A day earlier, two German hikers were rescued after their tented camp on Bay of Bothnia ice broke apart overnight, leaving their gear submerged.

“Very unfortunate timing,” said Patrick Eriksson, an ice expert at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, describing the hikers’ decision to camp on the ice as “highly unusual.”

While inland lakes in southern and western Finland now have weak ice, eastern and northern regions still retain thick layers—up to several tens of centimetres—where snow cover preserves stability. “As long as there’s white snow on the ice, conditions resemble mid-winter,” noted Jari Uusikivi, a hydrologist at the Finnish Environment Institute.

The ice skating season is effectively over, according to Santtu Päivärinta, chair of Finland’s Tour Skating Association. “We accept that tour skating always carries risks, but at this point, it’s no longer reasonable,” he said, warning that narrow straits—where currents erode ice from below—are especially treacherous. “You won’t see the weakening until a hole appears.”