Bye bye snow

Jyväskylä has been increasingly wet and sloshy over the past 48hrs as warm temperatures continue to melt more than 10cm of snow. Warm air is being pushed all the way to Finland from off the west coast of Africa. This warm air has been causing temperatures to rise in the United Kingdom and across the Nordic countries.

Many locations in Finland topped 5C yesterday, including Oulu, 310km north of Jyväskylä, where it reached 8.2C. The maximum temperature for Jyväskylä was 4.1C. This overtook December 3's monthly maximum of 3.9C and it was the warmest day since November 27. In the years since 2008, only 2011 has seen temperatures this warm this late in December. Yesterday's minimum of 0.9C was also the warmest in 3 weeks. Today's current minimum of 1.7C is even warmer.

The warm temperatures haven't been good for those hoping for a white Christmas. Most of the snow has melted already and long term forecasts aren't looking good with warm temperatures expected next week also.

Wet and icy paths were a common sight in Jyväskylä today as a result of warmer temperatures

The ugly side of winter showed itself today

The last two days in Sydney have been quite nice. Temperatures there have continued in the high 20s with 29.4C yesterday and 27.0C today. 27C is forecast for tomorrow also, although it should be slightly cooler over the weekend.

I didn't point it out in my previous post, but Tuesday's 34.4C in Sydney was the 3rd warmest December day in the period from 2009. December last year saw 2 days which were warmer; 36.2C on December 1 and 34.6C on December 20.