Cold May Day in Finland

Like it was for many other countries, yesterday was May Day in Finland, or, as the Finns call it, Vappu. This time of year can be a bit of lottery when it comes to temperatures. I don't have the exact records from before 2009, but I distinctly remember May Day Eve in 2008 getting to around 20C. In contrast, May Day Eve this year only reached 4.6C.

The graph below shows temperatures for April 30, represented by the orange lines, and May 1, dark green lines, between 2009 and 2014.

Temperatures for April 30 (orange) and May 1 (green) at Jyväskylä Airport for the period 2009-2014

Both May Day Eve and May Day were the coldest respective days during the last 6 years. Wednesday's top of only 4.6C was the first day with a maximum below 5C in almost 3 weeks. It felt especially cold after the 17C days at the end of last week too. It was also the latest date before summer for a maximum below 5C in the past 6 years, pipping 2010's April 29 recording of 3.6C by one day.

The minimum of -5.9C yesterday is actually the lowest May temperature recorded at Jyväskylä Airport since 2009. The lowest between 2009 and 2013 was -3.5C, recorded in 2012. Yesterday's low also set the latest date before summer for a temperature below -5C, beating April 26 from 2010. For further comparison, the last time below -5C in 2011 was April 1. This morning, however, reset that record when it dropped to -5.3C.

Although May Day's maximum of 6.7C was the lowest for that date, it was only the third lowest May maximum since 2009. May 8 2010 holds the current record when it only got to 5.7C.

The next week will see cooler temperatures continue in Jyväskylä. According to current forecasts, it looks like this will be the coldest start to May in at least the last 6 years.