Vora, Finland - Power Cuts & Cold

MetLink Home

School Weather News 1999

• Power cuts in Finland (photos)
  
  
• Coping with the cold

---

Power cuts in Finland

From: "Wili" Vora-Oravais-Maxmo Hogstadieskola, Finland
Subject: Power cuts, Vora, Finland
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 11:03:34 +0200

Hi again MetLink members. The temperatures are very low. Still -48degC at the place in Ivalo. In this morning's news they said that due to the low temperature the local electrricity company up there had lost distribution for up to 5 hours, with the result that waterpipes and house-heating pipes froze. Last night was most beautiful, when we got some very light powder-snow, even though the temp. was so low (-18degC) I also send you a couple of photos taken this morning here in Vora.

Coping with the cold

From: "Wili" Vora, Finland
Subject: About the weather conditions in winter!
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 1999 20:42:14 +0200

Hi you all down there on Malta and elsewhere, and greetings from a still cold Vora, Finland.

In answer to the question about how we cope in Finland with extreme cold.

As Mika Vanhanen at Eno Primary School, Eno, Finland said, the main parts of the houses are heated by burning wood in owens or they are heated by oil. 99% of the houses have central heating, mostly distributed by water, but also air is used. Direct electric heating is also very common.

Personally I have a different kind of energy source in my house. It´s a reversed compressor, a similar one as used in refrigerators, but more powerful. It takes the "heat" from a 300 m long pipe dug into the soil. It uses electricity as power for the compressor, but it consumes only about 40-60% of the amount of electricity compared to a house heated by direct electricity. A water tank with water is heated up by the system, and the water heats up air which is distributed around the house. Simple isn´t it? The walls of the houses are also very well insulated from the outside cold air. My house has 25 cm of rockwool insulation, plus the brick wall and wooden panels inside. Above the ceiling I have 30-40 cm of rockwool. The outer roof angle is quite steep, to let the snow come down easily, so it doesn´t break the roof.

Something about what to wear during the cold windy winter! As Mika explained we have to have much air in our clothes to be able to keep the cold from cooling down the body. You can have several layers of clothes, or you can have a fluffy sweater inside and a tight jacket, that keeps the wind oue. The important thing is that the jacket is not too impermeable. It has to let the moisture/sweat out, or you end up with being all wet inside. The shoes we wear are well insulated from the ground for example by layers of air.

The roads and streets are kept open by special lorries with different kind of ploughs. The roads are of very good quality in the whole of Scandinavia. For many years in Finland we have had a special law that forces all cars to be equiped with special winter tyres. They have to be used from the 1st January to the end of March. Most of the winter tyres are also equiped with special "nails" to be able to stop the car better on the icy roads.

Because of the long distances in Finland the car is necessary during the cold winter. The cold is no bigger problem. We use our cars despite of the cold. When it´s cold and windy, parents drive their children to their different activities. When it was as cold as it was last week, we also noticed that the concrete surface on the road broke, so we could see about 1-2 cm broad cracks over the roads in some places. The snow is a very good insulation against the cold, but not on the roads!!

Feel free to ask some more questions about the cold here up north if you´re interested.

Regards.......Wili, Vora, Finland

 MetLink Home