Warm weather surprises Kilpisjärvi as temperatures soar to 11.2 degrees Celsius in Finland

Warm weather has enveloped Lapland, with temperatures significantly higher than usual. In the village center of Kilpisjärvi, temperatures reached a remarkable 11.2 degrees Celsius on Friday.

“The warmth has been exceptional. Such occurrences have a recurrence interval of plus 30 years,” noted Vendi Pelkonen, a meteorologist from the Finnish Meteorological Institute. This means similar temperatures are experienced only once every three decades or more. As a point of comparison, the average high temperature recorded so far this October in Kilpisjärvi is 2.8 degrees Celsius. In the period from 1991 to 2020, the average temperature for October in Kilpisjärvi stood at -0.5 degrees, while on the same date last year, the maximum temperature was only -1.7 degrees.

Pelkonen suggested that this unusual warmth may be due to the presence of fog during the night, which helped maintain the milder temperatures. The sunny conditions during the day contributed to the rise in temperature, with the peak of 11.2 degrees measured at 3:20 PM, after several hours of sunshine. On that day, Kilpisjärvi experienced 8 hours and 44 minutes of daylight.

The warmer weather trend is set to continue across Finland. Aleksi Lohtander, a meteorologist from Yle, indicated that temperatures throughout the country will remain above average in the coming days. For instance, in Sodankylä, the average high over the next five days is forecasted to be 8.2 degrees Celsius, compared to a long-term average of just 1.9 degrees. Other regions in Finland can expect temperatures 5 to 6 degrees above the norm, with nighttime temperatures also well above average.