The Midsummer holiday is held to celebrate the longest day of the year in Finland, but this year Finns were cooler than they might have hoped. The holiday is traditionally enjoyed at a cottage or in the countryside, where people stay up all night to celebrate the mid-point of the year. This year the weather was inclement: on Saturday hailstones fell in Helsinki, Juupajoki and Rusko, among other places, with sleet in Lapland and thunderstorms in the Mikkeli area.
On Saturday Yle meteorologist Anne Bergström said that showers were set to spread across the country, even to North Karelia which had previously remained dry.
Temperatures in southern and central Finland remained below 15 degrees, but in the rain showers stayed below 10 degrees. In Lapland the mercury stayed as low as 2 degrees in places, with showers dying away towards the evening.
Midsummer night was particularly cold. Temperatures even dipped below freezing in Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and North Savo. Saturday night is expected to be warmer, with drier conditions possible on Sunday in eastern Finland and in West Lapland.