THE WINTER OF OUR NORTHERN NATURE
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Sorry, only "1. Environmental factors" and "4. The hard midwinter" are translated into English!
Despite some links in winter-part are not as yet working! |
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Temperature
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You are now in the part dealing with the temperature conditions in the winter.
Other topics on winter
Other topics concerning nature: Main menu!
See also:
1. Enviromental factors: temperature
Finland is far away in the North, not in the arctic, but in the cool temperature climatic zone (snow forest climate). Elsewhere at the same latitudes there is an arctic climate. More: Winter temperatures! See also: Our northern nature/general!
January in Finland is 10 - 12° C warmer than
almost anywhere else at the same latitudes.
In the continental climate zone areas of Siberia the winter is in
places even 30 degrees colder than in Finland. Cold winters
can still be fatal among others to some of our birds!.
Severe frosts (annual minimum -20°) only take place on about 40 percent of the earth's whole area. Only in third of the earth's area there are no severe frosts at all.
The Finnish climate is not very continental or
very maritime. See also: Mean temperature annual variation!
Weather conditions vary a lot especially
in the western part of Europe (also in Finland).
With the help of accumulated temperature sum, winter's frost accumulation can be measured. Summer's warmth is measured similarly.
Thermal winter begins when the accumulated temperature is fixed
(at least for a week) below 0° C. In Lapland, it begins already in
mid October, in Southern Finland over a month later. See also:
Thermal winter!
Thermal winter ends in Lapland between April and May and in Southern
Finland in the beginning of April.
Thermal winter lasts in Northern Finland even 6 -7 months but in
Southern Finland only 3 - 4 months.
Pictures above: On the left winter begins/autumn ends. On the right winter ends/spring begins
At Finland's latitudes weather changes greatly: sometimes the winter is very cold and sometimes it is very mild.
After Ice Age there have been many different kinds of climates. Especially mild winters have been, among others, those of: 1924 - 25, 1929 - 30 and 1933 - 34. All of the 1930 has been called a warm season. Winters were then 2 - 3 degrees warmer than at the beginning of the century. After that it has been colder. Cold winters have been, among others, winters in: 1939 - 44 and 1960 and also the Januarys in 1985 and 1987.
Now we are waiting for the so-called greenhouse effect. More: Greenhouse effect See also: About the greenhouse effect.
The seas have a major effect on winter climate. In the wintertime they work as a source of heat, and balance the temperature changes. The proximity of warm Gulf Stream is the most important reason for the mildness of our climate. In the coast of Norway the streams effect can be seen even more clearly. For example, January's mean temperature is in Bergen (which is in the coast of Norway) 0°, in Helsinki -6.1° C and in Jakutia (Siberia) -45 - 59° C. However, all of these places are located almost at the same latitude. In Jakutia, the climate is very continental and in the winter the so-called inversion often takes place.
Inversion = cold air flows down, the warm layer is higher. In the winter, it can be several degrees warmer in the upper slopes of the fells than in the valleys. In the summer time, the situation is reverse. See also: Inversion!
In the mountain ranges the mean temperature falls here in the North about half degrees for every climbed 100 meters. Through the year, there is a permanent snow cover, for example, in Norway up from 0.8 - 1.9 kilometers, in the Alps from 2.4 - 3.2 kilometers high and in the equator up from about 5 kilometers.
This is the end of the 'Temperature' section
