Lapland, Finland's northernmost Arctic region, recorded its highest temperature in more than a century during a weeks-long heat wave: 33,6 degrees Celsius.
That temperature was measured yesterday by the Finnish Meteorological Institute at its northernmost station Utsjoki-Kevo, near the border with Norway.
The institute stated that a higher temperature was measured only once in Lapland - of 34,7 degrees Celsius in the Inari Tula area in July 1914.
The beginning of July was extremely hot in Lapland, one of the last wildernesses in Europe, known for its extremely cold winters.
"It is exceptional in Lapland to measure a temperature above 32 degrees Celsius," Jari Tuovinen, a meteorologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told Finnish public broadcaster YLE.
He said that the current heat wave in Lapland is the result of high pressure causing warm air in the area. In addition, warm air comes from Central Europe and moves northward across the Norwegian Sea.
Nordic neighbors Norway and Sweden have also recently recorded high temperatures in the north, with the Norwegian municipality of Saltdal reaching 34 degrees Celsius this Sunday.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Finland was 37,2 degrees Celsius in the eastern city of Jensu in 2010, Finnish television reported.
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