HEAT-WAVE IN FINLAND
The Finns are getting used to global warming. They no longer walk bare chested in Helsinki streets as they did twenty years ago when I first visited the capital of Finland! The month of July 2018 broke all temperature records in Scandinavia. During my visit early August, the mercury hit 32⁰ C in Helsinki! In Savonlinna, 800 kms south of the Arctic Circle, 29⁰ were registered during our stay. Lapland did not escape the sizzling sun either. It was the hottest month of July on record since 1838 when the Finnish Meteorological Institute was founded. Compared to the 40⁰ C recorded in Calvisson, for me 32⁰ felt Arctic! The local animals were suffering from the crippling heat too. Newspapers reported that reindeers were joining beach goers for a swim, and trains were delayed because locomotives overheated and flocks of elks had taken refuge in railroad tunnels!!! ...