Weather in Southern Finland

This blog post is concerned about my personal experiences regarding the weather and the daylight hours during my stay in Turku, Finland Proper.

Up to now I have been in Finland for 8 months. I enjoyed a beautiful, warm fall and a long, dark, Finnish winter. And now, spring time is around the corner. The trees are already showing buds and the snow has almost diminished. :))

The Aurajoki river near Halinen

However, the weather has influenced my lifestyle tremendously! After this winter I do understand certain things about the Finnish culture much better. After my visit to Lapland, I also learned more about the Finnish silence and actually appreciate it a lot ;)
I agree with the Finns, that a Sauna visit at the end of a cold, dark winter day is mind-clearing and revitalizing.
Fall was actually longer and warmer than I expected it to be. I was able to ride my bike until the beginning of January. Also in Turku it didn't start to snow until shortly before Christmas. However, it was great to finally have a White Christmas (never experienced that before)!

View from my window

Personally, I was mostly affected by the ice on the roads. At some point it was not possible to go by bike and even walking was challenging - at least for me. I managed to fall two times, while standing. :D However, I never saw a Finn slip on the ice. I still do not understand, why the streets and pedestrian walks are not cleared from ice and snow. On the other hand, it might be in vain, especially in cities, located in the north.
I am somehow glad, that the winter was that

This is not funny to walk on!

mild. I experienced about 2,5 months of snow and ice. It actually didn't snow too much here in the southern part of Finland. Nevertheless most of the time, the roads were covered with ice and it got bad as the tracks formed by cars and bikes froze. Going by bike and even jogging is nearly impossible, unless you are an experienced athlete.
Together with the darkness, it was somewhat depressing but I am proud that I preserved it! However as soon as February started, I could tell that the days were getting longer. I helped myself by regularly checking the increase of the daylight on timeanddate.com. It helped a lot ;)

The Aurajoki river near the city center

I also checked weatherspark's websitefrequently to

In the end, I can say that I am glad to be able to use my bike again and not to be dependent on the bus, to go outside and see the sun or even daylight for more than just 4 hours and to go jogging at daylight. For the last 2 months of my stay I will happily observe the increase of the daylight.

Raisa =)