Warmer weather returns to Finland, fairly stable and dry in Sydney

After almost 3 weeks of cool summer temperatures, the end of last week finally saw the mercury rise above 20C in Jyväskylä. The run below 20C ended at 21 days, far longer than the 13 days in 2012, the previous longest streak since 2009.

Since Thursday every day has gone above the mark as a new wave of warm air finally arrived to Finland. Yesterday's top of 24.2C at Jyväskylä Airport was the highest in a month and the coming week is forecast to reach similar and higher maximums.

Minimums have also been up. The final 3 weeks of June saw an average minimum of 4.8C. The first week of July has seen a figure of 9.4C. Friday July 4 also saw the highest minimum in almost a month at 12.1C.

Thursday and Friday last week saw some isolated storms and showers throughout most of Finland. A total of 1.6mm fell at Tikkakoski on Thursday. Friday saw heavier falls with 9.9mm recorded. The monthly total after the first week stands at 19.9mm.

Showers rolled east towards Jyväskylä on the afternoon of July 4

It was clear to see that rain was falling in isolated patches

The dry and reasonably warm weather seen in Sydney in June has continued into the first week of July. While only the 4th has seen a maximum above 20C so far, the remaining 6 days have been fairly similar, between 17C and 19C.

The Airport still hasn't seen a maximum below 15C yet this year. The coldest so far is the 15.9C recorded on May 3. Since 1939 only 6 years, all since 1980, hadn't recorded a maximum below 15C at this point in the year. 1988 holds the record for the latest date at August 6. It was also late for 2005, the first date being August 5. 2014 is currently on track to have at least the 3rd latest date.

Dry conditions have also continued. Today made it 3 weeks since the last rainfall at the Airport. This is the longest dry streak so far this year. Anyone hoping for rain might have to wait a bit longer as well as the current forecast doesn't show any confident predictions for wet weather in the coming week.

June 2014 Review - Sydney

Once again Sydney experienced an above average month in terms of temperature. June 2014 at Sydney Airport ranked as one of the warmest in its 76 year history with both the overall minimum for the month and lowest maximum the highest on record. Rainfall dominated the first half of the month but dry conditions were experienced from June 17 onwards.

The graph below shows the June averages since 2009 plus the long term average.

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

As seen in the graph, the averages from last month rank as the highest or second highest in the years since 2009. The long term average is well below figures from the past 6 years. The 19.4C average maximum ranks as the equal 4th highest since 1939. The very warm June of 1957 holds the record at 20.4C. The average minimum was also quite high, ranking as the 6th warmest.

Winter minimums have been gradually increasing over the past couple of decades in Sydney. June 2014 further highlighted this with the month's overall minimum of 8.0C recorded on the 9th. This was the highest June minimum on record, beating last year's 7.6C. The 8 highest June minimums since 1939 have all been recorded in the years since 2001.

Cold days were few and far between. The lowest maximum of 16.4C was recorded on June 6. This was also the highest figure on record beating the 15.9C recorded in both 1991 and 2003.

The month's highest temperature came late in the month, a recording of 23.2C on June 28. While fairly warm for June, it is not within the top 90th percentile of all June records. The highest minimum of 14.8C was recorded on June 5.

Despite not recording the highest average maximum on record, June 2014 saw 14 days go above 20C. This is the third highest number since 1939. As shown in the graph below, the number of days that were entirely above 10C was the highest figure on record. Only 8 days recorded a minimum below the mark.

Number of June days with a minimum above 10C at Sydney Airport since 1939

June 2014 saw a monthly rainfall total of 109.0mm, making it the second wettest month so far this year. It was below the long term average of 122.8mm though, and far below June 2013's measurement of 305.6mm.

The month's wettest day was the 5th. A total of 55.2mm was recorded then and it is currently the highest daily total this year. June 4 through to the 11th all saw rain, the longest streak of the month. Of the first 16 days, 13 recorded rain. June 17 saw dry weather return and it stayed dry for the remainder of the month.

Daily rainfall totals during June 2014

The trend of weaker wind gusts for most of this year continued at the start of the month. June 13 was responsible for the weakest monthly gust of 24km/h. A strong low pressure system moved east across Australia's south-east from June 23, however, and brought very strong and gusty winds to the region. June 24 saw a strongest gust at the Airport of 81km/h, the 25th a 85km/h gust, before the 28th recorded the equal strongest gust since at least the start of last year, a westerly at 94km/h.

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.

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.