Image: Annikki Portti

Residents of Finland’s far north woke up to a white landscape on Wednesday. The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) measured three centimetres of snow in several places in Finnish Lapland at 9 am. These included the Saariselkä ski resort in the municipality of Inari, Kenttärova in Kittilä and Värriö in Salla. Meanwhile there were readings of 1-2 cm at Karesuvanto in Enontekiö and at Ruuvaoja in Savukoski.

This was the winter’s first snow according to the FMI’s criteria of a minimum one centimetre on the ground at 9 am.

Image: John Wind

The village of Vuotso in Sodankylä had two centimetres of snow at 8 am, but it had melted away by 9 am so did not meet the criteria. Vuotso, the southernmost predominantly Sámi village in Finnish Lapland, is about 40km from the Saariselkä resort.

Likewise there was snow over much of the large municipality of Enontekiö, which includes all of Finland’s north-western arm – but not at 9 am at any of the official FMI measurement points besides Karesuvanto.

Image: Liikenneviraston kelikamera

A hazardous driving advisory was issued due to snow or sleet for all of Enontekiö on Wednesday morning.

There was already some snowfall in northern Lapland in mid-September, but not enough at any of the FMI’s weather stations to meet its definition of first snow.