NORDIC WEATHER (AND MOODS) DEMYSTIFIED

I’m sure you’ve heard that we Nordics are a bit bi-polar when it comes to weather affecting our moods. You know, how the long, dark winters are supposed to make us go all Nordic Noir: moody and suicidal. And then there’s the instant personality transplant that comes with the long, bright summer nights: turn on the sunshine and we get unnaturally cheerful and chatty, even start talking to strangers on the bus… (BTW: if you are taking a bus in Finland and a fellow
passenger starts talking to you, it’s OK, as long as this happens in summer.
Any other time of the year, on the other hand… well, we tend to think that only crazy people, drunks and American
tourists try to start a conversation with a stranger…)

I guess there
is some truth to that, temperature and daylight hours do affect your mood,
though I for one am not so much affected by daylight as I am by temperature…

And because
of that I would like to divide the year into six seasons, instead of the usual
four:
(NOTE: both the temperatures and daylight hours are average for southern
Finland; in the north both are quite a bit more extreme)

THE PERFECT
WEATHER SEASON

from mid-August to late October, temperature
from 20°C / 68°F (August) to 5°C / 41°F (late October),  daylight
hours: 16-9

I love autumn… it’s warm enough to go for walks, cool enough to wear nice coats (a trench for early autumn, a wool coat for October). I don’t mind the dark evenings, or even some rain (except for what it does to my hair…don’t ask). The only problem with autumn is that it’s too short, to be replaced by:

THE DARK
AND DREARY SEASON

November-
December, temperature
from 5°C / 41°F to  -5°C / 23°F, daylight
hours: 8-6

Bears hibernate, the Moomins hibernate…  a walk on a Saturday afternoon? More like sofa and telly, pass the wine, please…
Time to put on the ‘winter work uniform’: a sleeveless dress, a cashmere cardigan, tights, boots, a wool coat / long down coat.

THE
WAY-TOO-COLD-I-REALLY-HATE-THIS SEASON

January-February, temperature
from  -5°C / 23°F to -20°C / -4°F, daylight
hours: 6-10

OK, can me make this a stay-at-home-day? No? I have to go to work!?! OK, fine, whatever… At least it’s not snowing anymore… Oh, it is? Oh well, snow happens, get over it… Spring is just around the corner, it’s almost March, just a little while longer… Although I wouldn’t mind a bit of that climate change here right now…

Professor M’s Winter Elegance

THE
ENOUGH-WITH-THE-SNOW-ALREADY SEASON

March-April, temperature
from  -5°C / 23°F to 0°C / 32°F, daylight
hours: 10-15

Not this again…slush everywhere, can’t I just sit this one out? Could the weather gods or powers-that-be finally settle on either ‘cold and snow’ or ‘warmer and rain’, not both? And could we please get temperatures to match the sunshine??!! I mean, seriously, a down coat and sunglasses, I look like the Michelin Man on holiday…
(Ditch the ‘winter work uniform’ for trousers, a cashmere cardigan, water-proof shoes, light-weight down parka, sunglasses)

THE I-HATE-THIS-EVEN-MORE-THAN-WINTER SEASON, 

a.k.a  THE POLLEN SEASON

from mid-April
to May, temperature
5°C / 41°F to 20°C / 68°F, daylight
hours: 15-18

I hate spring…I hate spring… I hate spring… (sneezing) I hate spring…

20°C / 68°F : SUMMER!!! Sandals!!!

THE
WAY-TOO-HOT-AND-STICKY SEASON

from mid-June to mid-August, temperature
20°C / 68°F – 30°C / 86°F, 
daylight
hours: 19 – 16

Confused Japanese tourists wander around the empty streets, wondering where all the locals are… But fear not, Finns have abandoned their cities only temporarily: they’re on holiday, cooling off by a lake somewhere, frying their pale skins under the midnight sun as if they’d never heard of skin cancer. They’ll be back by August.

These photos were taken on Friday 23 May, between 10:10 and 10:20 PM. The sun was about to set. Sunrise was at 4.22 AM

I do like summer, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing:

20°C / 68°F: PERFECT!!! I need a new sundress… or two… make it three, summer’s here to stay.

23°C / 74.4°F
: I think there is a special place in Hell for fashion designers who put belts on sundresses…
I miss February, I swear I will never complain about cold weather again…

27°C /
80.6°F : Clothes??!!?? DO I LOOK LIKE I CARE WHAT I’M WEARING??!!??
Where’s the freezer? Quick, I must go and stick my head in the freezer, I think my brain is
melting…

Does the weather affect your mood? Are you a winter or a summer person?

Enjoy the weather, whatever it might be in your neck of the wood, 

Tiina

PS:

This blurry photograph is a rare piece of evidence of me

1) wearing swimwear and

2) not trying to hide from the sun…

According to my (late) grandmother, I was quite a fashionista at such a tender age and had specified that my swimwear had to be a) a two-piece and b) red.