Rainfall in western provinces of Finland is running at lows not seen for decades. The south and centre of the country are also unseasonally dry, with many places seeing no rain at all so far in the usually damp month of October.
Tampere, Jyväskylä, Heinola and Hanko are among the measuring points that are much drier than usual.
"Rain in the forecasts has been postponed again and again thanks to the high pressure area," said Yle meteorologist Kerttu Kotakorpi.
She adds that there’s no change in sight, with high pressure set to remain for the coming weeks.
The current ridge of high pressure has been over Finland for the whole of October, moving slowly to the south-east. In its wake there’s little precipitation, with water levels low in rivers and lakes across southern Finland.
Water levels in the east of the country are expected to dip below average by the end of the month, while in lake Saimaa water levels are dropping and will soon approach the normal level for the time of year.
Normally ground water levels replenish during the autumn, but this year they were topped up during the summer and are now on the way down. In some spots in the south and the west, wells producing potable water are already very low.