From dark to light: Four seasons in Oulu

Text: Riikka Pehkonen Photos: Heikki Ylipaavalniemi and City of Oulu

Winter

Spring

Summer

Autumn

Nature in Oulu varies all the time. If you start your studies in autumn, the city will look totally different after a few months. Besides having four distinct seasons, nature offers two additional spectacles: midnight sun in mid-June when the sun only slightly grazes the horizon and the period of darkness at the end of the year when the sun only briefly rises above the horizon.

Spring is the shortest but the most eventful season in Finland. Nature starts to awake and the sun shines every day a few minutes longer. In March day and night times are equally long. The average temperature varies between 0°C and +10°C.

On the strands of the Oulu River you can see people sitting on ice and fishing – sometimes even catching a salmon or whitefish from the river. Though it looks easy and funny please don’t go on the weak ice by yourself!

Spring in Finland begins the later the norther you are. People in Lapland can still ski on the slopes when people in Helsinki already pick the first flowers from the ground. When the sun has melted the snow and the frozen ground, plants start to grow in the whole country. Trees start to grow their tiny buds into leaves in May.

Meet happy people in Rotuaari

The first day of the summer is the day when schools close their doors. That happens at the end of May. Most people have their summer holiday starting in July.

In midsummer people usually go to their summer cottages on the countryside. The average temperature in summer ranges from +10°C to +25°C.

If you think there is not much happening in Oulu, summer makes the difference. Then you can see a lot of people walking in the Rotuaari pedestrian street. Several summer events are arranged in the city: rock concerts, open-air fashion shows, theater performances in the park etc.

Because the nights are bright some events are arranged at night like The Night of Arts. A very popular place in summer is the open market by the seaside – only a few blocks west from the Rotuaari. It’s worth testing the sweet strawberries there!

Feel the colours in Ainola Park

Autumn begins in September. You will notice that evenings become longer gradually already from the middle of August. Now is the time to go to the Ainola Park and see how nature has burst into its beautiful autumn colours: yellow, red, green, purple and brown. In Finnish it is called "ruska".

The period of darkening days starts from autumn and lasts until Christmas. The first snowflakes will fall on the ground between late October and early November. Snow brightens the scene.

In winter the daylight time is very short: four hours at the shortest in Oulu, in Lapland the sun doesn’t rise at all from the mid-December to mid-January. Days in winter are icy-cold and freezing. Temperature can drop down to -30°C. Still, winter is not worth getting depressed. It offers a unique change to engage in some winter sports!

More information about the weather in the Oulu area can be found from the ECTS Guide for Incoming Students.