Cool summer weather continues in Finland, up and down for Sydney

If it wasn't for the colour of bright green outside, you'd be forgiven for thinking it could be September in Finland right now. Cool temperatures have continued throughout the country during the past week.

While the 20C barrier has been broken in other locations during the past 3 days, Jyväskylä hasn't hit the mark since June 11. It came close over the weekend though with tops of 19.0C and 19.5C on Saturday and Sunday. Today is the 19th consecutive day below 20C. The graph below shows the longest stretches below 20C for each summer since 2009.

Highest number of consecutive summer days below 20C in Jyväskylä for the summers of 2009-2014
(as of June 30 2014)

This current streak is more than double the longest runs of both 2009 and 2010. It's also running deep into what is normally the warmest time of the year rather than the typical time of late August. Based on forecasts for the coming days, the run should go until Saturday, a total of 23 days.

Warm temperatures were seen in Sydney late last week but they dropped yesterday. While Jyväskylä struggles to climb above 20C, Thursday to Saturday at the Airport all saw a daily maximum above the mark. It is quite unusual though. Since 2000, only 4 years have seen 3 or more consecutive days above 20C around this time of the year.

The month's warmest temperature of 23.2C was recorded on Saturday. As mentioned in a previous post, winds have been quite strong for the past week in Australia's south-east. A very strong and gusty westerly change dropped temperatures quickly in the late afternoon on Saturday. Yesterday only reached 17.4C and with a maximum of 16.6C, today was the equal second coldest day of the month.

June 25's 85km/h gust didn't hold the title for the strongest of the year for very long. The westerly change on Saturday saw a strongest recorded gust of 94km/h. December 5 last year also recorded a gust of the same strength, as did October 29 and August 12. No other gust recorded last year was higher than 94km/h.

Rain and snow has been affecting parts of Victoria and southern New South Wales for the past week, but Sydney has remained precipitation free since June 16. It should continue like this for the time being as well.

Rare optical phenomenon in Jyväskylä yesterday

People in Central Finland might have noticed something strange in the sky yesterday morning. A couple of odd looking rings appeared around the sun and in the surrounding sky at about 10am in Jyväskylä.

I had never personally seen this phenomenon before so I had to look it up. It is known as a halo. As this Wikipedia article describes:

They are produced by the ice crystals in the cirrostratus clouds high (5-10km) in the upper troposphere. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colours because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting sunlight between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular direction.

Halo over Jyväskylä on June 24

Halo crossover with a faint rainbow in the lower left corner

Unfortunately my camera doesn't quite do it justice, but I have to say it was an amazing sight. This video captured north of Jyväskylä shows the full halo.

Intense low brings strong winds and snow to Australia's south-east

There might be some people from outside of Australia wondering if they read the heading right; snow and Australia in the same sentence? People might be surprised to know that some locations in Australia can, and often do, reach a greater maximum snow depth than what most of Finland does.

An intense low pressure system currently moving across Australia's south-east is causing widespread damage throughout the region. Strong winds have been affecting areas from southern South Australia through Victoria to the southern half of New South Wales.

The system hit South Australia already late on Sunday. Yesterday morning Adelaide Airport recorded a maximum gust of 93km/h, the strongest since September 30 last year. Today the strong winds moved east and it was Melbourne and Sydney's turn.

Sydney Airport today saw a maximum recorded wind gust of 81km/h. This is the strongest gust so far this year and the strongest since December 29, almost 6 months ago. Bellambi, just north of Wollongong, saw a gust of 113km/h at 7:26pm, the strongest in more than a year.

Melbourne saw strong winds also. A gust of 104km/h was recorded at Melbourne Airport just before 1pm. The station on South Channel Island in the far south of Port Phillip recorded the strongest gust of the region at 122km/h.

Storm surges also caused minor flooding in areas along the Yarra River in Melbourne's CBD.

In addition to the gale force winds, the system has dumped plenty of snow in the Snowy Mountains, the region between Canberra and Melbourne. Almost blizzard-like conditions have seen previously bare ground covered in up to 50cm of snow at higher altitudes. After the unusually warm autumn weather, the snow is a welcome sight for ski resorts like Thredbo and Perisher. More snow is also predicted to fall in the coming days.

Several images and more information about this weather event can be found in this ABC news article.

Cold midsummer in Finland, warmer in Sydney

The winter/summer solstice is today, but the seasons don't seem to matter too much right now for Sydney and Finland. Sydney has been far warmer than Jyväskylä despite it being winter there, and this current trend will continue for the time being.

One of the big yearly holiday events for Finland is this weekend, Juhannus, also known as midsummer. Unfortunately, the weather has been anything but summery for the past week and a half. After the 4th coldest day of the past 6 years, temperatures plummeted on Wednesday morning to -1.4C. This is the coldest in at least the last 6 years. It's hard to find exact records, but some websites indicate the lowest ever recorded June temperature in Jyväskylä is around -3C.

Unlike a day earlier, Wednesday managed to climb above 10C. It actually got to 15.1C during the day. Thursday and yesterday, however, failed to reach that mark with 14.3C and 12.7C respectively.

Today is the longest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere.
These are the sunrise and sunset times for Jyväskylä.
Source: Finnish Meteorological Institute

Surprisingly (or then maybe it's not that surprising if you know Finland), all midsummer weekends in the past 6 years haven't been that warm. Not one day in all those weekends since 2009 has measured above 25C, the highest being 23.4C on June 25 in 2010. Based on current forecasts, the midsummer weekend this year will have the lowest average temperature.

While Jyväskylä struggles to climb above 15C, today Sydney Airport made it 3 straight days above 20C for the 4th time this month. This is quite unusual for June. It occurred twice in June last year, but not once between 2009 and 2012. Years before 2009 also show few, if any, occurrences. Yesterday's 22.3C was the second warmest maximum of the month so far. It got to 20.3C today.

The warmer temperatures have been accompanied by drier conditions also. Today was the 5th straight day without rain, the longest stretch since late May.

At this point, Sydney Airport is on track to record one of its warmest Junes on record.

Summer snow this morning in Jyväskylä

Scarves and gloves made their return this morning for many living in Finland. It has been a rather cold day today with temperatures hovering around only 5C for most of the day. It wasn't until after 6pm that the temperature climbed closer to 10C. While this kind of cold isn't unheard of for locations in Finland during the summer, it is quite unusual.

The cooler temperatures are the result of the combination of two low pressure systems, one situated just east of the Finnish-Russian border, the other in the Norwegian Sea, as well as a high pressure system north of Ireland. Together they are generating very cold northerly and northwesterly winds over most of the Nordic region.

In Finland's far north at Kilpisjärvi the temperature dipped to a low of -6.2C this morning. The all time record for June in Finland is only slightly lower at -7.0C, recorded back in 1962. At Jyväskylä Airport the temperature slowly declined yesterday evening from just above 10C at 9pm to just above 0C a bit before 6am today. There were sightings of snow flurries in Jyväskylä this morning, a rare event for summer here.

Snow falling in Jyväskylä's northern suburb of Palokka around 6am on June 17
Source: Liikkenne Virasto

The view slightly further north in Puuppola
Source: Liikkenne Virasto

Snow also fell in Kuokkala in Jyväskylä's south

This morning's low was the second lowest June temperature in the last 6 years. It dropped to 0.2C, quite close to the 0.0C recorded on June 8 in 2009. It was also the lowest since May 17. Today's high will probably be the coldest of the month. 2009 holds the record for the past 6 years for that statistic as well due to a 7.5C daily maximum on June 5 of that year.

How's the month of June progressing so far?

The first half of June has seen both Sydney and Jyväskylä experience a fairly warm start to the month. The warmth looks set to continue in Sydney, but a cold end to the month is on the cards for Jyväskylä.

The graph below shows the progressive average minimum for Jyväskylä in June during the past 6 years. It's quite interesting to see how the years have been split. 2009, 2010 and 2012 have clearly had lower minimums while 2011, 2013 and, so far, 2014 have been much warmer.

Progressive average minimum for June at Jyväskylä Airport in the period 2009-2014

The 6 days of June 4 to 9 saw minimums above 10C, helping the average climb 3.5C in that time. However, with the way the past week has gone, which included a low of only 1.1C yesterday (the 6th coldest June temperature of the past 6 years), and by looking at current forecasts, it's unlikely that the orange line will continue to remain in the vicinity of the lines of 2011 and 2013.

Jyväskylä started the month with a few days of maximums below 20C, but the same 6 day run mentioned above had an average top of 24.4C, causing the monthly average to climb almost 5C. It has been dropping for just over a week now though. Based on current forecasts 2014's average maximum could possibly end up the lowest of the past 6 years.

Progressive average maximum for June at Jyväskylä Airport for the period 2009-2014

In Sydney, minimums at the start of the month have been fairly similar to previous years. It wasn't until the end of last week and the continuation of minimums above 10C when 2014 pushed towards the top, now only below 2013. It's also interesting to see where the long term average lies, far below figures from the past 6 years.

Progressive average minimum for June at Sydney Airport for the period 2009-2014 plus the long term average

The average maximum for Sydney so far this June is also holding steady as one of the warmest. Including today, this month has already seen 8 days with a maximum above 20C. Only 2013 saw more since 2009 with 10. 2010 didn't have any days above 20C. 2013 still holds the edge for now as shown in the graph, but a 10 day run from June 16 last year saw an average high of only 15.5C, the coldest 10 day period throughout all of last year.

Progressive average maximum for June at Sydney Airport for the period 2009-2014 plus the long term average

Based on current predictions, it doesn't look like something similar to that will be happening this June. Forecasts for the next week show relatively warm highs between 19C and 22C.

Cooler weather ahead for Jyväskylä, showers continue in Sydney

The 6 days prior to today in Jyväskylä have all seen a maximum above 20C, but temperatures should drop after tomorrow. Temperatures have already been down on the 25C+ days from the end of the last working week, but comfortable highs around 21C and 22C have been around since Saturday.

Unsettled air continued to produce storms and showers throughout Finland up until today. Jyväskylä has also continued to escape mostly unscathed. Including today, the past 5 days have seen falls at the Airport but the total for that period hasn't topped 10mm.

Tomorrow should see a brief return to temperatures above 20C, but the remainder of the week will fail to reach that high. Saturday's current forecast is for a maximum of only 16C. Rain might also be around later in the week.

Fields in Sippulanniemi near Jyväskylä on June 7

Rain and wet conditions have continued in Sydney. Today made it 7 consecutive days of rain recorded. A total of 7.6mm fell throughout the day taking the monthly total to 104.4mm. This is already getting close to the long term average for June of 122.9mm.

The morning of June 9 finally saw the temperature dip below 10C for the first time this year at the Airport. It dropped to a low of 8.0C around 7am. It was also the first time below 10C since October 15 last year.

As I have mentioned earlier, 2014 has broken the record for the latest date in the year for the first minimum below 10C. Since 1939, there has been no other year that you have to go as deep as June to find the first minimum below 10C. The previous record was May 29 in 2003.

As for Observatory Hill, it also dropped below 10C yesterday for the first time this year. Temperature records there date back to 1859. 2014 ended up equalling the previous record of June 9 from 1988. Every other year since 1859 had a date before the month of June.

These records stand in line with figures that suggest daily minimums are continuing to climb in Sydney.

Cold and wet weather for Sydney, warm and stormy in Jyväskylä

The past few days have seen some heavy falls in Sydney. Temperatures have also dropped to levels more typical of winter.

After the month began with 24.2mm at the Airport last Sunday, Thursday followed it up with one of the highest daily totals for quite some time. A total of 55.2mm fell on June 5. This is the heaviest daily fall so far this year. Looking at BoM's 24 hours to 9am totals, you have to go back more than 6 months to November 16 when 80.4mm was recorded.

Most of the rain that has fallen in the past few days has occurred along the coast, and more specifically, in the Eastern Suburbs and south of the city in the Sutherland Shire. Across the days of June 4, 5 and 6, the Airport saw a total of 66.6mm. Observatory Hill saw 28.6mm, Terrey Hills on the north shore recorded 52.0mm while Penrith in the west saw only 12.0mm.

Temperatures have also been down on previous weeks. It only reached as high as 16.4C yesterday. That was the coldest day since May 3. This morning the temperature at the Airport dropped to 10.1C. This is the second time so far this year for that recording. That means 2014's run of not dropping below 10C at the Airport continues for now. This is now the record for latest date into a year for the first minimum below that mark.

Summer weather has returned to Jyväskylä. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday had daily maximums of 24.1C, 28.9C and 27.4C. It was quite humid on Wednesday and storms rolled through parts of Finland during the afternoon and evening. Thursday was a more settled and dry day, but humid and unsettled conditions returned yesterday afternoon.

Storm clouds east of Jyväskylä fom Harju Tower at approximately 3:30pm on June 6

The view to the south-east from Harju Tower at approximately 4pm on June 6

Despite the threat of rain, Jyväskylä city and Airport managed to avoid the heavier falls seen elsewhere in Central Finland. Only 1.1mm fell at Tikkakoski on Wednesday with a further 1.0mm yesterday. Storm cells moved north through the country on both days. As seen in the pictures, a few cells missed Jyväskylä only by 10km or so, either to the east or west of the city.

May 2014 Review - Sydney

It was a very warm May for Sydney this year. Despite a slightly cooler start to the month, unseasonably warm weather dominated most of the final 3 weeks. The higher temperatures were accompanied by plenty of sun and quite dry conditions.

The graph below shows the monthly averages for the past 6 years plus the long term average.

May averages at Sydney Airport for the period 2009-2014 plus the long term average

May 2014 was easily the highest of the past 6 years, and well above the long term average also. In the end, the average minimum for May this year of 13.0C was the equal 5th highest since records began in 1939. 1989 holds the record with 13.3C. Meanwhile, the average maximum was the 3rd highest since 1939. 1958 holds this record with 22.8C.

In the middle of May I wrote a post about how Sydney was on track to record its warmest May on record. Despite the weather station at the Airport falling short, Observatory Hill did record its warmest average maximum on record. The 23.2C average easily surpassed the 1958 record of 22.7C, with records dating back to 1859. The average minimum of 13.1C was the equal 12th warmest.

As this Special Climate Statement from the Bureau of Meteorology points out, a high pressure system sat in the Tasman Sea for an unusually long period of around 2 weeks. This led to warm temperatures throughout most of Australia, and especially in the south east.

The most significant record for Sydney was that Observatory Hill recorded 19 consecutive May days at or above 22C. This more than doubled the previous record of 9. The number of May days above 20C, 30, was also a record, beating 2013's 27.

At the Airport, there were 11 days above 25C. In the previous 5 editions of May, the highest figure was 4 in 2012. 2009 and 2011 recorded no days above 25C. While the number of days above 25C was quite high, the overall monthly high of 26.5C was still below previous years. That was recorded on both May 22 and 23. The highest minimum, however, was the highest in the past 6 years. The temperature on May 27 never went below 16.3C.

The coldest day was May 3 with a maximum of only 15.9C. The figure itself wasn't especially unusual, but fact that this was recorded so early in the month was. 2009 didn't see a maximum that low until June 10. The lowest temperature of the month of 10.1C was recorded quite early also, on the 5th. This is the highest overall minimum for May at the Airport on record.

Rainfall was well below average for 2014. The Airport saw the 9th driest May since 1930. BoM's recording of 17.6mm, and my recording of 18.0mm, were far below the average of 98.7mm.

Daily rainfall totals during May 2014

There were 8 days on which rain was recorded. May 11 to 13 was the longest streak for rain days. May 13 was also responsible for the highest daily total with 7.0mm. Starting May 14 though, there were 17 straight days without rain. This is the longest dry spell so far this year and the longest since the 35 day period between August 10 and September 13 last year.

Wind gusts were once again down on last year's figures. The average of the strongest daily gusts was 38.5km/h compared to 42.8km/h last year. May 4 saw the strongest monthly gust of 65km/h. The 18th saw a strongest gust of only 20km/h.

May 2014 Review - Jyväskylä

May 2014 was a weird month for Jyväskylä. The warmth of spring in April disappeared at the start of the month and it seemed like summer was just a distant dream. Then suddenly, the weather changed. Temperatures climbed to near record highs and it felt like summer had finally arrived. However, after a bit more than a week, the heat disappeared again.

In the end, May turned out to just above average in terms of temperature. It was also quite wet. The monthly total was more than double the average.

May averages at Jyväskylä Airport for the period 2009-2014

As shown in the graph above, this year had the lowest average maximum of the past 6 years. According to FMI, the average temperature for the month was 9.5C, down 3C on the record of 12.5C from 2013. This is compared to my recordings of 8.9C and 11.6C respectively. FMI's 1981-2010 average for Jyväskylä stands at 8.9C. Only 2 of the past 10 Mays have been below that average.

This year saw two of the hottest May temperatures in at least the last 6 years. Both May 19 and 24 got to 29.3C. The warm period also brought the highest minimum of 14.1C, recorded on the 20th. The cold start to the month saw the lowest overall temperature and the lowest maximum. It only climbed as high as 5.2C on the May 4, and it dropped to -6.4C on the 7th. These were the lowest respective figures in the past 6 years.

Nationally, Heinola saw the highest temperature of the month. As mentioned in a previous post, the 30.8C recording there on May 19 was only 0.2C off the all time May record. May 5 was responsible for the coldest temperature when it dropped to -16.3C at Kittilä.

May this year had 3 distinct periods. The first 16 days were unusually cold. The next 9 were unusually warm and the remaining 6 were just below average. FMI reported that the cold seen during the first couple of weeks is only seen in May once in a decade on average. The graph below shows the average daily temperature throughout each May in Jyväskylä from 2009 to 2014.

Average daily temperatures for May at Jyväskylä Airport in years 2009-2014

It's clear to see from the graph that 2014 really stands out. Not only did it have many of the lowest daily averages, but also many of the highest daily averages.

Some other interesting, and somewhat contrasting, observations from May 2014 include:

• There were 4 days with a minimum below -5C. There were no May days below -5C between 2009 and 2013.
• There were 10 days with a minimum below 0C. This was the highest number in the past 6 years.
• There were 13 days with a maximum below 10C. This was easily the highest in the past 6 years (next highest was 5 in both 2010 and 2012).

On the other hand...

• There were 6 days with a minimum above 10C. This was also the highest number in the past 6 years.
• There were 5 days with a maximum above 25C. This was the equal highest (with 2010) number in the past 6 years.
• There were 7 days warmer than the warmest day in both May 2011 and 2012.

Rainfall was well above average for the month. Most of the southern half of the country recorded more than the average. FMI recorded a total of 114mm at Jyväskylä Airport. This was almost 100mm more than the figure for last May and more than double the 1981-2010 average of 44mm. My own recordings, calculated using FMI pages on a daily basis, totalled 124.6mm.

There were a total of 18 days with rain recorded with totals ranging from 0.1mm to 28.1mm. A 7 day period between May 8 and 14 was the longest streak of rain days. May 21 to 24 was the longest dry streak. May 26 was responsible for the highest daily total while May 25 also saw 24.2mm.

Finland saw around 25,000 lightning strikes throughout the month. This was above the average of 8,500. May 19 and 25 accounted for around 13,000 and 9,000 strikes respectively.

Heavy rain in Sydney yesterday morning, warmer in Jyväskylä

The first few hours of June 2014 saw heavy rain in Sydney's east. A band of showers moved south along the coast dumping 24.2mm at the Airport in only 4 hours. This figure was actually more than all the rain recorded throughout the whole month of May as well as the highest daily rainfall since March 24.

The first day of the month saw a daily maximum of 21.7C. This is quite warm for June. Most of the day was quite cloudy also. Temperatures dropped sharply in the middle of the afternoon though. A change in wind direction from northerly to westerly was responsible for a 6C drop to below 16C by 3:30pm.

Jyväskylä saw slightly warmer temperatures on the weekend. It climbed above 15C on both Saturday and Sunday. June's account was opened with a top of 16.3C yesterday. It felt a little warmer in the city though.

Church boat in Äijälänsalmi with Jyväskylä in the background on June 1

Isolated, and at times heavy, showers moved north through the west of Finland on Saturday. Jyväskylä city got a light splash but no rain was recorded at the Airport.

The coming week is looking like a return to the temperatures seen from May 18 to 25. A top of 22C and 23C are forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, with 27C for Thursday. There might be some rain around as well, especially with the storm activity predicted on Wednesday.