The first week of the year was the third coldest of the century so far.
Year has rarely started as cold as this year.
This became clear when a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute Mika Rantanen compared the freezing temperatures of the first seven days of January each year. The first seven days of 2024 were the third coldest in the measurement history of Helsinki's Kaisaniemi, which begins in the 1880s.
The average of last week's freezing period was -16.6 degrees at the Kaisaniemi measuring station.
The beginning of January has been colder only in 1987 and 2003. In all these years, the weather has possibly been affected by the global El Niño phenomenon.
“The effects of the El Niño phenomenon in different parts of the world have been studied a lot. According to researches [El Niño -vuoden] winters can be colder on average on this side of the Atlantic, and that's exactly the case this year. One could imagine that the phenomenon has some small effect on the weather in Finland,” says Rantanen.
in Finland there has been colder weather than usual in the past three months. At exactly the same time, the El Niño phenomenon has started again.
Rantanen stresses that it is not a statistically significant difference. At least this phenomenon alone does not explain the cold weather conditions in January.
“At the beginning of the year, many pieces must have fallen into place.”
The El Niño phenomenon recurs every 3–7 years and its duration is on average 1–1.5 years. The phenomenon originates in the Pacific Ocean.
Rantanen points out that the first days of January are not necessarily the coldest days of the year. Equally cold episodes have occurred throughout January but also in February.
For example, in February 2011, a seven-day period of frost was experienced, the average of which was -17.7 degrees.
“Last week's frost period was the third coldest of the century so far,” says Rantanen.
“This is a rare situation, although not exceptional. In a hundred years' worth of material, this kind of coldness repeats about once every ten years.”
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