“It’ll be close at least. But I’d say that it’s more likely that we don’t get there,” he remarked.

The weather today is expected to be similar to yesterday – warm with clear skies – with the exception that winds will pick up particularly in western parts of the country, reaching gust speeds of over 20 metres per second. Also scattered showers are possible in south-western areas of Finland.

On Wednesday, however, the weather will cool substantially, with the mercury staying below 20°C in all parts of the country. Showers are expected to concentrate primarily in western regions but start spreading to central and northern parts of the country, leaving eastern regions the only where rains might be avoided.

On Thursday, temperatures will rebound over the 20°C-mark in southern and central parts of Finland. In western regions, though, cooler temperatures are forecast to persist due to continuing rains.

Lohtander reminded that although temperatures over 25°C are likely in the rear-view mirror, the weather remains unusually warm for this time of the year.

“If you think about what kind of temperatures we have on average this time of the year, the daily highs would be 16 degrees in the south and around 11–12 degrees in Lapland,” he said to the public broadcaster.

In Finland, the year has been unusually hot.

On Monday, the mercury climbed over 25°C in Rauma, Southwest Finland, marking a record-breaking 70th day where the limit, known as helleraja in Finnish, was reached. The record has therefore been updated five times in as many days.

The September record, meanwhile, has been updated twice in as many days, yesterday being already the seventh day with the daily high exceeding 25°C. The previous record for the month dated back to 1968, according to STT.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT