Naantali

Finland is experiencing warm and sunny weather with temperatures ranging between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius, and an advisory for strong ultraviolet radiation has been issued for the south and southwest.

The cherry blossoms along the Aura riverbank are a huge draw for tourists and photo enthusiasts every year around mid-May. The city's head gardener said he was amazed by the sight of the flowers budding this time of year.

According to Simo Laine, head horticulturalist at botanical garden in Turku, southwest Finland, it could well be the first time that the blooms have made an appearance in the country as early as January.

The incidence of ticks at all of Turku University’s research sites in Turku as well as in Helsinki has risen over the past 20 years, and they can still active into the fall, even after periods of freezing weather. Southwestern Finland and Uusimaa have reported 29 cases of tick-borne encephalitis and some 1,500 people have contracted Lyme disease, an illness caused by ticks carrying Borrelia burgdorferi.

Researcher Sirpa Lehtinen from the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) said that cyanobacteria exist in seawater all year round, but intense heat causes them to multiply quickly.

A close cousin to the tornado - the waterspout - touched down in south-western Finland on Friday.

A fire chief in the south-west said firefighters were called to several fires a day in recent days, saying that all were caused by people who ignored warnings.

Spring blossoms, dusty streets, distant fires and a lack of rain combine to create hazardous respiratory conditions.

Alder catkins (the pollen-rich flowers on alder trees) haven't reached their peak yet, but there are a lot of them. There can be four to five million pollen particles in a single catkin.

Littoinen Lake made headlines in 2017 when it was chemically treated because it was overwhelmed with phosphorous and algae. Now there is a new problem.

As many allergy-sufferers across Finland may have already suspected, birch pollen levels were very high on Wednesday, according to the University of Turku.

The Natural Resources Institute is developing new ways to combat Alexandrium ostenfeldii, a toxic organism now thriving due to climate change.

As many people resident in Finland already know, May was an exceptionally cold month. According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute FMI, the last time May daytime temperatures were this low was in 1969.