Climatologist: Summery May heralds warm summer to come
A warm and dry May has typically been followed by a warm summer, explains climatologist Ain Kallis, according to whom recent cold springs have led people to forget earlier warmer May months.
Spring rains ended in early May, and since then, Estonia has been enjoying nearly uninterrupted warm, dry beach weather. According to Kallis, such dry springs were last recorded in 1999, 2006 and 2008, but cold and dry springs are much worse for farmers than this year's current warm and dry weather, reported ETV news broadcast "Aktuaalne kaamera."
"We always have imported weather in Estonia — we get everything that is sent to us from abroad," the climatologist said. "Anti-cyclonic weather has persisted for a month, meaning that high pressure systems continue to push away low pressure systems that tend to come our way from Iceland via Scandinavia.
In recent years, June has tended to be colder than average, with the weather warming up in July and August. 2010 and 2011 saw warmer summers. Kallis noted that those years in which warmer weather arrived in May typically saw it continue through the rest of the summer.
"It is believed that this warm spell will continue," he said. "Right now, the belief is that this warm period will coninue through June and, who knows, maybe through July and August as well. At least this time it shouldn't start snowing, as it has sometimes in June."
Sunscreen is already selling well in pharmacies, and pharmacists are reminding people to wear hats and sunglasses and drink a lot of water when out in the sun.
Editor: Aili Vahtla