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

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

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.

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.

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 state rail company VR has said that it will substitute buses on some of the cancelled rail trips.

In the frigid waters of the Gulf of Finland, cyanobacteria has been observed for the first time during the winter months.

Sightings of great egrets have been reported for decades, but sightings this summer confirm the first time the species has nested in Finland.

With current tropical conditions set to continue for another week, the situation is not likely to improve before the end of July or early August.

Sea ice around Helsinki becomes more precarious as spring draws near.

Rain and rising temperatures have brought warnings of extremely slippery conditions in other areas.

Why are barnacle geese and seagulls dying by the dozens in Helsinki and not Turku? The birds have been dying in droves off the coast of Helsinki, and in the islands off coastal cities nearby as far out as Inkoo in the west and Porvoo in the east. The phenomenon was first reported on Thursday by Helsingin Sanomat.

In Finland nothing means spring is around the corner more in the south than news that the brown bears at Helsinkis Korkeasaari Zoo have woken from their winters sleep. Zoo employees say the 16 and 11-year-old females hibernation is increasingly cut shorter as the years pass.