File photo
File photo
An unusual spring snowfall swept across the central part of Finland from Monday to Tuesday, leaving one person dead in a traffic accident and about 8,000 households without electricity.

The Finnish Metthat it measured 18 cm of snow at its Tikkakoski weather station in central Finland.

The snowfall was the heaviest on Monday evening -- over 4 mm of precipitation per hour. A general rule of thumb in meteorology is that one millimeter of measured precipitation equals one centimeter of snow.

Snowfall across the area made driving conditions hazardous, causing several road traffic accidents. One person died Tuesday morning in a collision between a car and a delivery lorry in Jyvaskyla.






Several other accidents occurred in the same area. Two passenger cars collided in Petajavesi, west of Jyvaskyla, on Monday evening, injuring one of the drivers.

On Tuesday, a heavy truck slid off the road into ditch in Parkano, western Finland. A passenger car got off the road and hit a tree in Hameenkyro, near Parkano. No injuries were reported in these accidents.

A lorry that slid off the road into a ditch
© Tenho Tornberg / YleA lorry that slid off the road into a ditch in central Finland on Tuesday morning.

Collapsed air dome in Jyväskylä.
© Petri Aaltonen / YleCollapsed air dome in Jyväskylä.
According to the police, there was abundant snow mixed with slush on the roads when the accidents happened.

The area also experienced rolling power outages as wet snow downed trees and power lines.

According to the weather forecast, lighter snowfall is expected to continue and road conditions remain hazardous in the region.