Warmer weather returns

Sydney saw a return to warmer temperatures yesterday. After rain in the early hours of the day, it reached 27.6C a bit after 1:30pm. Some showers returned at around 4:30am this morning, but they cleared quickly enough and temperatures climbed quickly as well. They surpassed the 30C mark already by 10am and Sydney Airport ended up recording its highest temperature in almost two months.

Forecasts yesterday had predicted tops for Sydney of 34C and that was pretty much spot on for Observatory Hill as it reached 34.2C there. Temperatures at the Airport though climbed a little higher to 36.7C. No other station throughout the Sydney region recorded a temperature above that. November 21 was the most recent day to record a higher temperature when it got to 37.0C.

Overnight temperatures were also rather warm. The coolest part of the day was just after midnight, when it was still as warm as 23.2C. That's the highest minimum since a 23.3C recording on February 25 in 2013. With today's minimum, this January has already seen two minimums higher than any figure from 2014.

This morning's showers pushed the consecutive run of rain days at the Airport to six. The monthly total after the first two weeks sits at 30.2mm, almost three times the total from the whole of last January.

Temperatures also climbed in Finland yesterday. Jyväskylä managed to hold below -10C, but locations in the south pushed above zero. It was just over 2.5C at Helsinki's Kumpula station yesterday. Meanwhile in Utsjoki, it was more than 40C colder as it dropped again below -39C, this time to -39.4C.

Even Jyväskylä saw a large difference in temperatures compared to those seen in the south. Clearing skies in the afternoon and evening helped it drop below -20C a bit after 9pm. Kumpula at that time was sitting at 2.6C.

Winds shifted southerly not long after that though and temperatures began a steady climb above -15C. In the 22hrs since 11pm last night when it was still below -16C, it has climbed 15.5C to -0.6C this evening. These milder conditions should hang around for a few days before a slow but steady decline by late Sunday evening heading into next week.

Snow in the playground of Viitaniemi School on January 14

More snow fell in Jyväskylä yesterday morning. A total of 4.6mm yesterday and an additional 3.2mm today has taken the snow depth at Tikkakoski to 38cm. Like Sydney, this is far more than last January. Friday morning could see another dumping of snow too, possibly up to 10cm.