Erika Benke
BBC News, Rovaniemi
BBC/Erika Benke
“Make sure your reindeer has enough water — and don’t forget to drink a glass every hour,” Santa reminds the team of elves who are busy making presents as swellers for their upcoming Christmas presents in a record-breaking heat wave.
Although Father Christmas doesn’t explain to the elves about the risk of sunstroke every day, temperatures have risen by around 30°C for days in northern Finland this summer.
As for Santa, he stays indoors all day – his bright red outfit, trimmed with fur, is very warm.
“I’ll go swimming in the forest lake after 6pm when the weather starts to cool down,” he says.
Santa’s workshops in Rovaniemi have adapted to cheerful resilience, but unusually warm temperatures in the Arctic are a serious problem. Scientists point out climate change as the perpetrator.
After an unusually cold and wet spring and early summer, the whole of Finland, far north of Lapland, 500 km (310 miles) in the Arctic, was suddenly caught up in a series of spells of hot weather.
By July 25th, the Rovaniemi heat wave will last for 15 days.
In Finland, heat waves are defined as periods of at least three consecutive days with a daily maximum temperature exceeding 25c.
Jaakko Savela, a meteorologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, explains that heat waves like the ones we have today are exceptional in Lapland, where temperatures above 30c are extremely rare.
“It was in 1972 that Finland’s last had a similarly long heat wave,” says Sabela. But even that only lasted 12-14 days, depending on the exact location.
“The record is broken.”
Rovaniemi wasn’t the only one who was caught by the burnt temperature. Several other weather stations in Lapland have registered the longest heat wave ever since records began.
The maximum temperature of the heat wave was measured at two locations earlier this week: Ilitrunio and Sodonkira. This is about 10°C above the seasonal average in Lapland.
BBC/Erika Benke
This week the thermometer in Santa Claus village in Lapland read 33c under the sun
The heat wave has sparked new concerns about the pace of accelerating climate change in the Arctic.
Savela points out that this particular long heat wave was not directly caused by climate change. But he said, “It had an impact on climate change. Without it, temperatures would have been low over the past two weeks.”
Professor Jeff Weller, chairman of the Arctic Research Committee at Or University, agrees.
The heat waves and extreme weather events in summer and winter have become very frequent and can only be caused by fundamental changes in the climate system.
“Every day, climate change appears in extreme heat and extreme precipitation events around the world,” says Professor Weller. “We have our fingerprints of climate change.”
According to the UN Intergovernmental Commission on Climate Change, human-caused climate change has made heat waves more common.
He said as the planet continues to warm, extreme heat will occur more frequently and even more intense.
The extreme heat has also affected Lapland’s famous reindeer.
Celebrated around the world as a flock of Santa sleighs at Christmas, where reindeers roam freely in the forests and fels. However, they are troubled by mosquitoes that thrive in the hot climate, so reindeer are now fleeing to roads and villages in search of relief.
“For reindeer, the only option is to go to higher elevations, but the highest elevation in Finland’s Lapland is about 1,000m (3,300 feet),” says Professor Weller.
He added that “reindeer hermits may have to build a large barn to provide shade to animals,” as more extreme and longer heat waves will occur more frequently in the Arctic Circle in the future.
Santa and his reindeer aren’t the only ones struggling. Lapland is traditionally known as a cool tourist destination, but this year visitors are stumped.
“It’s very hot here – 30C is killing me. I’m starting to get away from the heat,” says Sylvia, a Prague tourist visiting Santa’s Holiday Village in Rovaniemi.
“I packed the wrong clothes in the hopes of cold weather the whole time. I only have one short sleeve T-shirt with me. I wear it every day.”
BBC/Erika Benke
“I packed the wrong clothes in the hopes of much colder weather,” said Sylvia of Prague.
Rovaniemi’s day is currently 20 hours a day, so the sun is shining until after 11pm.
A delve into the shady patches of Santa Park is London Adita. He expects to find temperatures below 20c here. “I barely get out of the shade, and when I do, I feel like I’m on fire,” she says.
“Similar things are happening in the UK, and I’m very surprised to see this in the Arctic,” she says. “Ice and snow are extremely essential to this amusement park and throughout Lapland.”
Elina, an elf who works at Santa’s post office, is also worried about the future of Lapland’s winter.
Santa has the additional problem of having to wear his heavy outfit every day.
At this point, once the air starts to cool he will only go outside in the evening, and risk heat stroke in just 10 minutes.
“Of course, the hot summers can be very good for some people, but I like the cold and snow,” he says. “Winter is better.”
