The exceptionally mild winter continues in Finland, with temperature records broken twice already this month. On 6 December Åland basked in a relatively balmy 11.1 degrees, but that record was broken on Sunday in Kokemäki, where monitoring stations recorded 11.2 degrees.
On a very warm Sunday temperatures were in the double digits in Kaarina, Vihti, Lohja, Espoo, Helsinki Airport and in Turku.
"The figures might still rise, as in winter the temperature doesn’t depend on the sun shining but the mass of air," said Yle meteorologist Toni Hellinen.
Hellinen says that southern and south-western Finland hasn’t been this warm this late in the year at least since 2000.
The north and centre of the country, however, is much colder. Temperatures in Lapland are well below freezing and the local December record is seven degrees Celsius.