Last week, Spring FINALLY arrived to us here in Sodankylä, Lapland.
Everything started to melt some while back, just a little, on and off.. but then last week, the temperatures rose dramatically and in a rather unseasonal early way.. zooming up to +25c ! It's a good month early!
The sky was a beautiful blue, the sun shone and of course, shone all day long...even when hidden behind clouds intermittently, it remained light and lighter into the nights...which are now reaching up to midnight. It was wonderful to have windows open, even if we do have to have mesh over them to keep insects out and our cats in!
The trees immediately by our house were just beginning to go green...so nice to see!
What snow was left, melted gradually away and remnants disappeared.... :D SPRING!
These photos were taken last week.. the first at:
8.30pm
The second a day later...at 11.30pm (YES, nearly midnight!)
The deciduous trees, all sprung into action, deep from their winter slumbers.. and all recognised the call within days of each other.. I find that action in unison quite amazing... As the image at the top of this blog shows, the leaves were opening and uncurling. Sodankylä is now GREEN and I have grass growing! :D
Its amazing to think that what was once like this..
is now this... :D
Of course Spring (and also Autumn infact) are generally very quick seasons up here.. and it will soon be what I describe as 'The Clapping Season'. Clapping season? = Summer!
That is when Lapland is FULL of a million new friends...and I don't mean tourists...I mean MOSQUITOES! I am hoping though, that as the opening start to Spring was so hot, that there will less this year, for when the bogs and marshlands are kept wet, long after the melts, the mosquitoes thrive, thrive, thrive! We shall see...I have seen a few around already!
The weather lasted a good week, but of course, nothing stays the same forever and this last couple of days have been rather over cast, damp and horrid... food to fuel the savage wee beasties... Hopefully the sun will be back soon!
Here is an interesting link to the YLE Finnish news website.. about our unseasonally early warm days! Although it does point out that as yet, you wouldn't want to be swimming in any Lappish lakes.. Brrrrr... :D
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/05/heat_wave_warms_inland_waters_1702015.html
GOODBYE SNOW... see you in late October/early November!!
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