July 2014 Review - Jyväskylä

It was an unusually warm July for Jyväskylä in 2014. Records from the Finnish Meteorological Institute place July 2014 as the sixth warmest July since at least 1961. More than half of the month recorded days above 25C. It was mostly dry and sunny, but a couple of stormy days pushed the rainfall total close to the long term average. Elsewhere in Finland, most of Lapland recorded its warmest July in 30 years.

The graph below shows the July averages at Jyväskylä Airport from 2009 to 2014.

July averages at Jyväskylä Airport for the period 2009-2014

The inconsistency of Finnish summer can be partly seen in the graph above. The average maximum for 2014 was 4.5C higher than last year. Despite recording the second highest average maximum since 2009, 2014's average minimum was lower than 2011. The overall average for the month of 19.0C, as stated by FMI, was 2.5C above the 1981-2010 average. My own recordings put the average at 18.5C, but that is still much warmer than the long term figure.

Compared to the previous 5 years, 2014 had the largest difference between the average minimum and maximum. This generally meant warm days but cooler nights. July 13 to 31, however, didn't see a temperature below 10C. Since 2009 only 2010 had a longer streak above 10C for July.

July 2014 recorded the 8th and 9th days above 30C since 2009. The 25th got to 30.3C while 30.2C was recorded the very next day. The 23rd and 27th came very close to the 30C barrier, both recording tops of 29.9C. The month's highest minimum came on the very last day, a 15.3C recording.

The very first day was the month's coldest with a maximum of only 14.3C. The lowest overall temperature came on July 11. The 4.3C figure recorded then was the only day that went below 5C.

The warmest temperature recorded in Finland during July 2014 was 32.5C on July 26 at Kouvola's Utti Airport. Finland saw a total of 26 hellepäivät (days above 25.1C) during the month. This was the 5th highest figure since at least 1959. 2010 and 1973 hold the record with 30 while the long term average is 16. Jyväskylä saw 18 hellepäivät during the month. That is compared to 21 in 2010.

As mentioned earlier, rainfall was below average. The 1981-2010 average for July in Jyväskylä is 84mm. FMI's 68mm figure (my own recording was 69.2mm) was also lower than last year's 76mm reading. There was a total of 11 rain days. The longest streak without rain was 11 between July 17 and 27.

Daily rainfall totals at Jyväskylä Airport for July 2014

Brilliant summer conditions dominated the month, but there were some very dangerous storms around at times. One storm led to the wettest day of the month at Jyväskylä Airport. The 14th saw a total of 23.3mm fall. July 31 also saw 22.1mm as a result of storm activity. Oulu, in Finland's north, saw the highest daily total during the month. On July 18 62.3mm was recorded. An incredible 59.2mm of that fell within 1 hour.

FMI reported a monthly total of around 110,000 lightning strikes throughout the country. This is compared to the average of around 59,000. July 31 alone saw about 22,000 strikes as very dangerous storms struck the western half of the country.