Finland is recording an unusually warm month of May, with the mercury exceeding 25 degrees Celsius, a record for the country, the country’s meteorological service told AFP today.

Authorities have put a large part of Finland on alert from tomorrow until Friday due to high temperatures, which are expected to exceed 27 degrees Celsius.

“It’s probably the first time we’ve issued a heat wave alert in May,” Iris Viljamaa of the Finnish Meteorological Institute told AFP, explaining that such an alert takes place in June at the earliest.

“Finnish climate has always known meteorological changes, but today climate change amplifies these kinds of phenomena,” according to meteorologist Leena Laakso.

The temperatures recorded during this period are about 10 degrees Celsius higher than the average temperatures of the month of May, she added.

With the heat wave alert we aim to provide recommendations to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children or people who are sick to protect themselves from the heat, according to a press release from the Finnish health institute.

“In Finland we are used to a cool weather and citizens have already started to have health problems directly related to this kind of weather conditions,” Viljamaa stressed.

Today, the mercury rose between 24 and 28 degrees Celsius. In the city of Salo, in southwestern Finland, thermometers showed 28.8 degrees Celsius on Saturday, the highest temperature of the year so far.

The mercury will remain at these levels until the end of the month, the meteorologist clarified.