Cold weather to continue in Jyväskylä, heatwave comes to an end in Australia

The current cold snap in Finland should continue for the time being. Since Sunday January 11 the warmest temperature has been -9.8C, while the current monthly low of -18.3C came this morning. It only reached a top of -13.3C today. The -20C barrier still hasn't been broken yet this winter, but it might come close on Monday morning.

Despite a minimal snow depth of 3cm, the cold temperatures and resulting frost have helped to create a wintry landscape in Jyväskylä. The lower temperatures have also reduced levels of slipperiness on paths and roads. An unusual sight was witnessed yesterday near Salo in the country's south; ice flowers on a frozen lake. Jyväskylä looks something like below.

Puistokatu in Jyväskylä on January 17

Ice crystals on a window as the sun sits low on the horizon around 12:30pm

There isn't a lot of snow around, but it is still quite frosty

It's quite remarkable to think that the temperature difference between Jyväskylä and some Australian locations in the past few days has been 60C. The heatwave affecting the south east of Australia finally came to end this evening. The cities of Adelaide and Melbourne, along with regional centres elsewhere in South Australia, Victoria and also New South Wales, have sweltered since the beginning of the week.

A few stats from this week include Melbourne's daily maximums from Tuesday. They read 42.8C, 41.7C, 43.9C and 43.9C. This was the first time ever that Melbourne had recorded 4 days in a row above 41C. Adelaide saw 5 days at 42C or higher with readings since Monday of 42.1C, 45.1C, 43.7C, 44.2C and 42.7C. Tuesday's 45.1C was the 3rd highest ever recorded for Adelaide.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Sydney had been predicted to avoid the worst of the heat, and that's exactly what happened. The Airport has posted 3 consecutive days above 30C since Wednesday, but with a top of 31.3C, it's nothing compared to Adelaide and Melbourne. As is normal, the city's western suburbs have had it worse than coastal areas. Penrith has seen 4 consecutive days above 35C since Tuesday with a maximum of 39.2C on Wednesday. It'll be another warm day in Sydney tomorrow with 31C predicted again.