True Facts About the Local Weather
Compared with many countries, Finnish timings of sunsets and sunrises, temperatures and amount of daylight and snow can be a surprise for many.
- Finland has four seasons, winter being the darkest and the coldest season of the year when the snow arrives and stays on the ground for months.
- The latest sunrise of the year in Tampere occurs on 26 December when the sun rises at 9:44 a.m.
- On the other hand, the earliest sunset of the year in Tampere occurs on 17 December, the sun setting at 3:02 p.m.
- Twilight still takes place for even 2 hours so it is not entirely dark when the sun sets.
- The lowest temperature record in Tampere was −37°C in year 1961. While the general temperature at winter can be approximately between −3°C to −7°C,
- , when it is cold, the temperature can even fall between −20°C and −30°C.
- 1-2 % of the people living in Finland experience winter depression, and even 20-30 % suffer from a milder version of it called winter blues with tiredness and fatigue. In case, you would suffer these kinds of symptoms, you can always get many kind of help and support.
- Finland is a geographically huge country so the weather and everything related to it changes a lot depending on where you are in Finland.
…Once you have recovered from the culture shock, read my secret tips!
10 Secret Ways to Survive a Finnish Winter
Me, myself have suffered annually from some level of winter blues. I have had a lot of time to think about strategies of how to maintain a good quality of life until my favourite season, the spring arrives. Some Finns don´t need to think so much. They even love winter and are “winter kinda people”. I am not like them, but it is a good thing because, now, I can share all my secret winter surviving tips.
- If you feel the loss of light affects you, consider Vitamin D.
- Maybe consider also a light therapy lamp. It is not any kind of a lamp but it is designed for light therapy, with its light intensity being 10,000 lux.
- Don´t stay inside the entire day but when there is light outside take even a small walk outdoors even if you do not have any k of lectures or other activities that day. There are also many kinds of activities you can go for outdoors in Tampere at winter: skating, skiing, snowboarding, horse riding, hiking, ice hockey etc.
- Enjoy nature. Take some friends with you and go for a walk or take your camera with you and take some outstanding snowy photos of forests and lakes and send them home. Also, in Tampere, you can find many places at winter where you can walk on ice, because there are lakes here everywhere.
- While having Christmas or skiing holiday, take some friends, and go to explore more Finland, for instance northern part of Finland, called Lapland. There are many kinds of options from spas to ice hotels and snowboarding centres
- Visit the Tampere Festival of Light events, light shows, performances and exhibitions. All the happenings start in October. Check also other light festivals in the Tampere region.
- Reorganize your home. Get candles, new light devices, lamps or Christmas lights. Usually, you can also put outdoors lights to the balcony which looks really cool, both from inside and outside.
- Take into account that nearly all the hobbies and clubs keep being active throughout the winter (indoors and outdoors). Also, University, other schools and workiplaces stay open, no matter what the weather forecast looks like.
- Buy some winter clothes. You remain warm and shopping can also be nice. There are some really nice second-hand and recycled clothing stores in Tampere.
- Most important, no matter the challenging weather, keep going, study, find new friends and have fun! ❤️
