Winter in Rauhala

Rauhala lies 200 km to the north from the Arctic Circle. At our latitude the Sun stays about one month below the horizon starting from December. The day is at its shortest during Christmas time when there are 5 to 6 hours of daylight depending on the weather. This time is called "kaamos" in Finnish and it is the darkest time of the year. However the shades of blue light and pastel coloured skies in the afternoons makes this a magical time in the nature.

Towards spring the Sun shows more and more of itself. The daylight increases by 7-8 minutes per day. At the end of season you don`t need artificial light, in April the dusk in the night is only a few hours long.  

Our winter starts by the end of October when the lakes freeze over. The snowcover starts to get thicker in November. The land is snowcovered for 6 months and by the end of winter there is about 1 meter of snow. 

On the fells the trees gather snow and ice on their branches also directly from the air and this piling snow makes the forest look like from a fairytale. 

The average temperatures during the wintermonths are -10 to -12 Celsius. The coldest January day was in 1999 when the temperature dropped to -50 Celsius. On the other hand it is possible that it rains in January and February. Normal winter temperature are between -5 to -25, but the weather can change suddenly.  

Statistically there are Aurora Borealis in 200 nights a year. At a time they can appear for a few minutes to several hours. More information about northern lights at Finnish Meteorological Institute