Temperatures in Finland last month were between 1.5 and 3.5 degrees Celsius warmer than normal in most parts of the country.

Finnish authorities are investigating a gas leak outside of Finland, suspected to be caused by external activity, with both the security police and defense forces involved in the case.

Southern parts of the country can expect showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday, with more severe storms possibly hitting central areas by evening.

The sale of fishing permits has been suspended for two sites where water temperatures have risen to critically high levels, especially for salmon.

One spark was all it took. The driver of the forest harvester was working a logging site at Renko in Kanta-Häme. The grapple of the machine hit a stone, throwing a spark that set the underbrush ablaze.

The last time the water levels were this high in some places was in the late 1990s or early 2000s. According to the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), floodwaters will likely spill onto fields and roads in parts of southern and western Finland, but not into buildings.

The last time Finland had this much sunshine in March was nearly a decade ago, in 2013. High pressure typically brings clear skies, and this was also the case last month in Finland.

The H5N8 virus was detected in sick and injured birds in February and early March this year, including in a swan found dead in Helsinki's Eläintarhanlahti park and a goshawk sent to Korkeasaari Wildlife Hospital from Kumpula. Several birds infected with avian influenza have been found in Uusimaa this winter.

Finland is emerging from a deep freeze, giving way to milder temperatures and more snow. On Saturday three people in Helsinki fell through the ice at two different locations within the same 15-minute period.

Conditions will heat up with every passing day and weekend highs will be in the 20s across the country.

Finland says the low concentrations of radioactive material found in air samples pose no danger.

The brown bears hibernated for only two months due to the warm winter conditions, according to zoo officials.

Sipilä said that during his 40 years working for state-owned parks and wildlife management agency Metsähallitus, he has never seen such poor ice conditions in January.

Various species can be spotted in different parts of the country till early October due to warm weather in the south.

Helsinki usually gets 70-80 millimetres of rain during August. Friday morning alone brought 56 mm of water to Kaisaniemi Park, where the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has a weather station.

The northwest coastal city of Oulu was one of several that had over 30-degree Celsius temperatures on Friday.

The Pallas's reed bunting has been sighted fewer than 10 times in Europe.

Forecasts indicate that ice cover will thin by dozens of centimetres all the way up to Lapland.

The warmest springtime temperature of the year so far is 14.1 degrees Celsius, and fires are popping up around the country.

The state rail company VR has said that it will substitute buses on some of the cancelled rail trips.