Rovaniemi is the capital of Lapland in northern Finland, located 6k south of the Arctic Circle. It's best known for being the 'official' home town of Santa Claus, and as offering an excellent place to view the spectacular natural display of the Northern Lights.
Rovaniemi has a subarctic climate with short, mild summers with long, cold, snowy winters. Its extreme northerly location and overcast skies lead to very low levels of sunshine in the winter.
How Cold Does It Get in Rovaniemi?
The lowest temperature ever recorded at the airport is 8.1°C recorded on 28 January 1999. But on the same day temperatures as cold as -47.5 C were recorded at nearby weather stations.
When Was The Hottest Day in Rovaniemi?
The highest temperature ever recorded is 32.2°C, recorded on July 18, 2018. And Rovaniemi saw it's hottest April day on April 2019 when a high of 19°C was recorded. Quite a hike considering the usual April average is 3°C!
How Often Does It Snow in Rovaniemi?
With an average annual temperature in Rovaniemi of 9°C, snow is on the ground for roughly half of the year, most commonly from late November to mid-April.
Climate Change and Snow At Christmas
In 2018, like much of Europe, Finland had an unseasonably hot summer and autumn. In Lapland snowfall is common between October and April and by November, there's usually a heavy blanket of snow that lasts until mid-March.
But in 2018 the snow didn't arrive until mid-December, much later than usual and it didn't stick because of the warmer ground conditions.
Unseasonably mild conditions are likely to become more common as climate changes cause global temperatures to rise.
Lapland Snow Forecast for Christmas 2019
Snow flurries are forecast for mid-December with heavier falls around Christmas. The good news if you're on holiday with young children is that even if heavy snow isn't guaranteed to make an appearance - Santa Claus definitely will!
Winter Daylight hours and Polar Night
Daylight hours are limited in this season, with just a few hours between 10am and 2pm during the peak winter months. This lack of light in winter is s known as Polar Night. The long dark nights do provide excellent conditions to see the Northern Lights which are most visible between November and March.
The Northern Lights
Rovaniemi's long, dark nights offer the perfect conditions to see the famous Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. It's quite a difficult phenomenon to predict but the best months to go for it are September, October, February, and March. The Northern Lights appears around 150 times a year in Lapland.
This natural phenomenon is visible in Lapland when the sky is clear and is best viewed when there's no full Moon.
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