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

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.

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.

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.

After several warm days, lightning bolts struck Finland about 16,000 times on Saturday. By evening, nearly 20,000 customers were without electricity. More trees may be felled as electrical storms move toward the Russian border.

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.

Record wind speeds have been clocked in southern maritime districts as a storm dubbed Aapeli causes widespread power cuts and train delays across Finland.

Sightings of great egrets have been reported for decades, but sightings this summer confirm the first time the species has nested in Finland.

With current tropical conditions set to continue for another week, the situation is not likely to improve before the end of July or early August.