Spring snow for Finland during the weekend, chilly temperatures and rain in Sydney

People throughout Finland were already wondering what happened to spring thanks to the low temperatures during last week, but the questioning grew during the weekend when snow fell on both Saturday and Sunday.

Rain, wet snow and snow affected most of the country. Snow was seen as far south as Helsinki and the precipitation radar was rather spotty as a result of isolated, and sometimes heavy, falls. In Jyväskylä there were a couple of brief periods when the ground turned white. Kivijärvi, 100km to the north, saw several centimetres. Driving conditions were especially dangerous in some areas due to the fact that most locals had already changed to summer tyres last month.

In Jyväskylä, May 1 was responsible for the coldest May temperature since at least 2009 when it dropped to -5.9C, but yesterday ended up being the coldest May day in that period. It only briefly popped above 5C in the afternoon, reaching a high of 5.2C. This was 1.5C lower than May 1's 6.7C, which had been the third coldest in the 6 year period. Yesterday's temperature beat the 5.9C recorded on May 8 in 2010 and the 5.8C from May 3 in 2011.

Sydney also saw unusually cold temperatures during the weekend. Saturday was especially cold. It only reached 15.9C at the Airport, a maximum not typically seen for another few weeks. To highlight how unusual this is, the table below shows the first dates with a maximum of 15.9C or lower since 2009.

First date for a daily maximum of 15.9C or below for the period 2009-2014

Including today, it still hasn't dropped below 10C yet this year at the Airport, but it came mighty close when it was 10.1C this morning. This isn't as unusual as the statistic above. Only 2009 and 2012 had recorded a temperature below 10C by this time of the year.

Showers accompanied the cooler temperatures also. The totals weren't that high, but 1.4mm fell on May 3 and 4.4mm on May 4. The rain also fell early in the morning and Sunday turned out to be a fairly clear day.

A couple of the past 6 years have still seen a day or two above 25C beyond this date, but going on current forecasts, it doesn't look like that will be happening this year. Potential showers and daily maximums between 19C and 22C are predicted for the next week.