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Ice igloo, Lapland
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| Quick facts about Finland |
| Country code: FI | | Zone: Europe | | Country local name: Suomi | | Demonym: Finnish | | Official languages: Finnish, Swedish | | Driving on the right side of the road | | Currency: EUR (Euro) | | Internet TLD: .fi | | Calling code: +358 | | Time zone: EET (UTC+2) - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3) | | UE accession: January 1 1995 | | Population: 5.291.517 | | Capital: Helsinki | | Biggest city: Helsinki |
| Borders: Russia, Sweden, Norway |
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The climate in Southern Finland is a northern temperate climate. In Northern Finland, particularly in the Province of Lapland, a subarctic climate dominates, characterised by cold, occasionally severe, winters and relatively warm summers.
The main factor influencing Finland's climate is the country's geographical position between the 60th and 70th northern parallels in the Eurasian continent's coastal zone, which shows characteristics of both a maritime and a continental climate, depending on the direction of air flow.
Finland is near enough to the Atlantic Ocean to be continuously warmed by the Gulf Stream, which explains the unusually warm climate considering the absolute latitude.
A quarter of Finland's territory lies above the Arctic Circle, and as a consequence the midnight sun can be experienced – for more days, the farther north one travels.
At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer, and does not rise at all for 51 days during winter.
When to go
Warmer months, May to September are best to visit and of you are not interested in museums or galleries, midnight sun phenomena is a good reason for a vacation in Finland.
In Lapland, ski season lasts from February to June.
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