Winter staged a surprise return, bringing more than 5 cm of snow to parts of southern and central Finland. Yle meteorologist Anne Borgström explains that the quick change was the result of a cold pulse from the Arctic Ocean.
"In the east the temperature was more than 18 degrees Celsius while at the same time it was less than five degrees on the west coast. The interface between these cold and warm fronts has produced this precipitation," Borgström says.
While the precipitation was mostly over by early evening in Uusimaa and other southern areas, Northern Karelia and Kainuu were still expecting up to 5 cm of snow locally.
Slippery roads in the east, 1 m snow up north
In eastern Finland, there is a warning of poor road conditions in the evening and overnight because of snow or sleet and ice-covered roads, extending from Kymenlaakso to Kainuu. There is also a warning of gale-force winds on eastern sea districts.
Temperatures are expected to drop below freezing throughout the country overnight. On Tuesday they will rise above zero everywhere, but remain in the single digits, perhaps reaching 10 degrees in some inland southern areas.
While this winter was largely snowless in Uusimaa, which includes the Helsinki region, there has been good snow cover in the north. There is still more than a metre of snow in the far northwestern arm, and over 80 cm in much of the rest of Finnish Lapland.
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