Weather “Snow cannon” brought tens of cents of snow to Western Finland – bad driving warning in part of the country valid during Christmas return traffic

Christmas The snowdrift strip, or “snow cannon” that ran over Western Finland during the holidays, left behind an exceptionally thick layer of snow. On Sunday morning, there was 53 cents of snow in Vaasa, almost as much as in Kittilä’s Kenttärova in Lapland (62 cents).

Read more: Christmas Eve was white all over Finland, the “snow cannon” brought almost half a meter of snow to Vaasa during the day

In Turku, the depth of snow was 24 cents on Sunday morning, while in Kaisaniemi in Helsinki the snow was three cents and in Härmälä, Tampere six cents.

SNOWFILL PHENOMENON that is, the winter coastal convergence snowfall was due to the humidity and cold air mass of the Gulf of Bothnia. The phenomenon that occurs over the sea area is also called the snowstorm strip, as it meanders in the sea area lengthwise and brings thick snowstorms to the coast.

Thanks to a snowstorm, almost 20 cents of snow fell in Vaasa on Christmas Eve in a couple of hours. In Turku, on the other hand, it rained at least 15 cents in a few hours on Christmas Day.

“These show that up to 10 cents of snow per hour is possible in extreme cases,” says a meteorologist on duty Jari Tuovinen From the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

He emphasizes that the centimeter of snowfall is most often an estimate, as the amount of snowfall is measured like the amount of rainfall, i.e. in millimeters. At zero, one millimeter corresponds to a centimeter thick layer of snow. If the weather is on the plus side, the equivalence shrinks, while in the frost the equivalence increases.

“In the frost, one millimeter of snow can correspond to a thickness of two centimeters,” says Tuovinen.

The thickest layer of snow was on Sunday morning in Inari (75 cents). There was still a 63-cent snow layer in Vaasa on Christmas Eve, which means that the cinemas had shrunk by almost ten cents by Sunday morning.

Why has the snow layer shrunk even though there has been more snow?

“As more snow falls on the snow, there will be a gradual sinking in the kinoks, even though it is light frost. In addition, the wind carries snow, ”Tuovinen explains.

Christmas return traffic is busiest on Sunday afternoon. For the most part, normal winter driving prevails, but road surfaces may be slippery in places due to frost.

According to the traffic control company Fintraffic’s road traffic center, driving is poor on 78% of road sections and very poor on 18%.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute has issued a bad driving warning to Southwest Finland and Ostrobothnia.

In western Finland it will rain in some places on Sunday from the snow. Elsewhere in the country, the weather is mostly sunny and cold.

“On the inland side, especially in the middle ground between Central Finland and Ostrobothnia, the frost can get closer to 25 degrees. In general, we are at 15–20 degrees all over the country, ”says Tuovinen.

In coastal areas where it rains, frost is weaker. In Lapland, too, the frost is milder on Sunday than in Central Finland.

The sun shines on Sunday at least in places. Tuovinen says that the north current brings low-moving clouds, so the clouds vary throughout the day.

With the exception of the west coast, there is some wind throughout the country. The line between north and northwest blows 4 to 5 meters per second.

Outdoor enthusiasts should consider the wind when dressing.

“That wind adds a little bit to the bite of the frost,” Tuovinen says.