Northern Finland is now covered by an unusually thin snow cover. The most unusual situation is in Southern Lapland, Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, Yle meteorologist Kerttu Kotakorpi said on Saturday afternoon.
"There's very little snow there at the moment. Having this little snow occurs about once every 20–30 years," Kotakorpi said.
Normally at this time of the year there would already be 20 centimetres of snow in the north, but now there are only a few centimetres, with 5–15 centimetres less on the ground than usual. However, there are major local variations, as is usually the case with snow depth.
In Northern Lapland, there is somewhat more snow, about 10–20 centimetres.
The reason for the lack of snow is a strong high pressure system in the east, which is prevents precipitation from coming to many parts of Finland.
"We now have really stable weather conditions. The precipitation that does come will be concentrated in the western part of the country," Kotakorpi said.
Light snow expected in south and west
The situation will continue as it is well into next week, Kotakorpi said. The forecast does not indicate any heavy snowfall at least through Wednesday, the last day of November.
"The further into December we go, the rarer it is that there is so little snow," she added.
The Uusimaa region, which includes Helsinki, had about six centimetres on the ground on Saturday, a week after the season's first significant snowfall last weekend – and more on the way.
On Saturday night and Sunday, snow showers will spread from the south coast to the western part of the country. However, only a few centimetres of new snow are expected.
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Temperatures will remain 0 and -5 degrees Celsius throughout the country, dropping to -10 overnight in some areas.
"There will be small amounts of precipitation in the west at the beginning of the week, but nothing is expected up north," said Kotakorpi.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) warns of poor driving conditions in southern Finland between 2am and 2pm on Sunday. Besides Uusimaa, the warning covers the areas of Southwest Finland, Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme and Kymenlaakso.