June 2014 Review - Jyväskylä

Where did summer go? That was the question on the lips of everyone in Finland for the second half of June in 2014. Some very warm days seen in May made way for a cooler close to the month, and June started in similar fashion. A brief 6 day period of 20C-plus temperatures brought summer back within the first week, but it disappeared just as quickly as it arrived. The rest of the month was mostly cold and cloudy with a bit of rain and even snow thrown in as well.

As expected, the average temperatures for the month were below long term figures. The following graph shows the averages of the previous 6 Junes.


June averages at Jyväskylä Airport for the period 2009-2014

Despite the cool weather, the average maximum of 17.7C was still above that of 2012. The average minimum, on the other hand, was the lowest of the past 6 years. The Finnish Meteorological Institute reported an overall average of 12.3C for the month (compared to my 12.1C). The figure for 2012 was 12.7C (12.1C). Using FMI's figures, June 2014 was the coldest June since 2004, and the 7th coldest since 1961.

The highest temperature of the month for Jyväskylä was 28.9C recorded on June 5. The days either side of that, June 4 and 6, both recorded the highest minimum of 13.9C. Both of these extremes were in the middle of the equivalent figures for the past 6 years.

The month's lowest temperature of -1.4C was recorded on the 18th. It is not very common for sub-zero temperatures in June in Jyväskylä and this was the lowest June temperature seen in at least the past 6 years. The coldest day was June 17. It only reached a top of 9.8C, making it the 4th coldest June day since 2009.

Liperi, west of Joensuu, recorded the month's national high of 30.5C on June 6. Enontekiö, in the far north, took the month's overall low of -6.2C on the 17th. This wasn't too far off the all time record of -7.0C. FMI reported that for many locations the second half of the month was the coldest such period since at least 1961. Everywhere in Finland recorded a monthly average below the respective 1961-2010 figure.

As mentioned already, there was a brief period of warm weather from June 4 onwards. Discounting the warmest 3 days, however, the monthly average maximum would have been 1C lower at 16.7C. The second half of the month was especially cold. The average daily temperatures shown in the graph below highlight this.



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

The orange line signifying 2014 is clearly the lowest line for most of the month beyond June 14.

Rainfall was below average despite the mostly cloudy conditions. It wasn't because there weren't many rain days, there were actually 19 days on which precipitation was recorded, but there were hardly any days on which heavy rain was experienced. In fact, with 12.9mm, June 13 was the only day with a 24 hour total above 10mm.

The monthly total ended up at 46.7mm by my count. FMI reported 48mm. Last year's figure was almost double at 95mm while the 1981-2010 average is 67mm. The longest streak of rain days was 9 between June 12 and 20 and accounted for 27.5mm of the monthly total. June 25 to 29 saw no rain and was the longest run of dry days.