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

Finnish authorities are investigating a gas leak outside of Finland, suspected to be caused by external activity, with both the security police and defense forces involved in the case.

Southern parts of the country can expect showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday, with more severe storms possibly hitting central areas by evening.

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.

Harju said that due to its long tusks, she guessed that it was an older walrus, adding that the animal was calm during the hour that she watched it lay on the beach.

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.

Some migrant birds are already flocking to the north, but a cold snap may delay more returns.

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 eyewitness, who first heard the animal splashing by the southeastern coast, said she couldn't believe her eyes.

The brown bears hibernated for only two months due to the warm winter conditions, according to zoo officials.

Sipilä said that during his 40 years working for state-owned parks and wildlife management agency Metsähallitus, he has never seen such poor ice conditions in January.

Gusty winds and precipitation began pounding Finland from the southwest on Wednesday morning.

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.

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.