Thermal winter begins when the average round-the-clock temperature stays below freezing.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) says the arrival of winter has not been this late in central and northern Lapland for the past 50 years.

The first snow also took a while to fall, with some places in central and northern Lapland getting the first cover only in mid-November. At Lapland’s longest-running observation station in Sodankylä, the first snow has not been recorded this late in the entirety of its nearly 100-year history.

Other areas of central and northern Lapland, however, received the first snow at the usual time, around October 10.

November in the entire country has been, on average, about 5 degrees warmer than usual. However the situation does not qualify as exceptional, the FMI says.