jaganath wrote:djkest wrote:thejamppa wrote:
But the finnish winter I am affraid is this year much more like British isle's winter. No real frosts now. Due with global warming, I guess we can kiss arctic warfare soon goodbye.
Seriously? You actually believe that?
dude, he lives there; i think he knows WTF is going on with his own climate slightly better than you do from all the way across the Atlantic.
I'll chime in on this as well. When I was kid first snow used to come in mid/late October and many times it snowed so much, that the snow was usually permanent. During my childhood there was only one Christmas, when we didn't have snow, probably around probably around 10-15 years ago. Last 3 years have been pretty exceptional. Currently we have practically no snow in Helsinki. And it's been relatively warm. Since 1900 five warmest Januaries in Helsinki have been 1930, 1925, 2008, 1989 and 2005. This year the average temperature was 0,6 Celsius. The average temperature between 1971-2000 was -4,2 Celsius. For reference the coldest year has been 1987, when the average temperature was -16,5 Celsius. This February seems to end up being 4 Celsius warmer then last February. 2006 was the warmest December ever. Average temperature in Helsinki was 4 Celsius, that's 6,2 Celsius above the 1971-2000 average. In Oulu (biggest town in Lapland, located 200km south of arctic circle) 2006 December was 7,5 Celsius warmer than average. In Sodankylä (town 120km north of arctic circle) December 2007 was 9 degrees warmer then the average. This year some people were mowing their lawns at Christmas eve. I can't even describe how crazy that sounds, if you are a Finn.
Not only are the average temperatures noticeably warmer, even more noticeable is the lack of freezing peak temperatures.
And now on topic... Bluefront, that's a crazy trip you made. It's truly a miracle you didn't suffer any serious frostbites. When I was a kid, I did something probably equally stupid. Back when I was in elementary school, we used to think, that wearing a woolly cap made you a sissy (because adults didn't wear them). I think was about 12 years old when I learned the hard way how important woolly cap is. It was -30 degrees and a bit windy. I rode 2,5km to school with my bike. It took probably only 10 minutes. But because I wasn't wearing any woolly cap, it was enough to freeze my ears almost solid. By the time I got to school, my ears were burning red and hurting like hell. Later that day then my ears had already thawed, I started to shed skin. Before night all the skin from my ears had peeled of off and they were so sensitive that I couldn't sleep, because whenever my ears touched a pillow the pain was so intensive I immediately woke up. I learned my lesson the hard way
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thejamppa wrote:It was nice to spend a week in the woods with wood heaten tents when it was from -27 to - 42 Degree's C. There is reason why finnish army training is considered one of the hardest general army training, especially during the winter.
I don't know why, but when we were on our first camp, weren't allowed to bring our sleeping bags with us (perhaps to break our spirit?). It was only -20 degrees C, but after you have spent a day crawling in the snow with wet clothes, blanket just doesn't cut it. When I woke up in the morning, I had 39 degree fever and spend the next week in the infirmary.
Btw, I don't think anyone else (other countries) thinks our general training is "one of the hardest", and if they do, they are mislead. Especially considering the direction our army training has taken in the last few years. It's a picnic compared to what they go through in Russia, where people die every year as a result of hazing.