Weather info and information for drivers

Here’s some practical last minute information on the weather and driving from Mistress Johanna:

According to the five-day weather forecast, the daily temperatures will vary between 5-10 degrees C during the day to fall down to close to zero during the night. Some rain is forecasted for Friday, clearing up towards the evening. Saturday looks like cloudy but not wet and Sunday might even see some sun.

Here’s the link to the forecast for Kemiönsaari (just 10 km from the site), so you can do a last minute check.

As quite a bit of rain is expected during this week and as there’s also the water from the melting snow, conditions are likely to be a wee bit soggy on the site’s gravel roads. As you’ve probably read, the accommodation buildings are separate from the main hall, so you’ll have to walk outside to get from place to place. Thus bring sturdy mud-tolerant shoes and leave the longest hems at home (or take a belt to hike them up) – and pack some kind of a bag to carry your stuff from accommodation to hall, to save yourself a trip or two. (Tip: at arrival, leave your feast gear in the hall when you check in at the troll). And take your warmer coat/cloak for getting around the site.

Indoors will be warm, but outside may not. Think Central European winter and you’ll be on the correct wavelength… (for us this is spring, but you may not feel like it).

Important information for those of you who are driving:

If you drive a rental car, check what kind of tyres you got; if you have studs, no worries (they are legal until Monday and on needs basis even longer). If you got all-weather tyres or plain summer tyres, try to avoid any places with snow mush and drive very carefully on the last bit of road to the site, there might still be icy spots here and there. If you contact your rental firm today and tell them that you’ll have to drive on the country roads, you might get a car with decent winter tyres.

Seriously, take care, especially if you arrive in the dark!

All drivers, remember that the wording “soft verge” is no joke. If you have to pull over on the narrow last bits of road, try to pick a place where there’s no ditch next to the road, otherwise there’s a real risk of ending up side first in the ditch. The speeds will be so low it won’t probably hurt you (maybe the car), but it’ll slow down the trip more than a bit…

Also, because of the cold and snowy winter and recent rain, roads have suffered a lot this winter. I’ve noticed that the motorway junctions have a lot of eroded potholes and you really don’t want to hit one of those at 80 km/h. Many smaller paved roads have also gotten a wavy structure and you don’t want to hit any of those pits at high speed, either, especially if you are driving your own car. And the gravel roads may alter between soft and muddy and hard and even icy. And the huge amount of melting waters means that there can be big puddles on the road – remember that there may be a BIG pothole where the puddle is and that in high speeds skidding is a real risk. If you have to drive somewhere where you can’t see the road surface (a puddle or in snow mush), really slow down.

Driving at this time of the year is a lot easier than it was a month ago and I’m confident that everybody will get to the site without problems – just take care, if you aren’t used to driving in this kind of winter/spring conditions. The motorway will probably be pristine and summerlike, but when you get onto the smaller roads, expect surprises and kill your speed. (Besides, remember that speeding fines are hefty in Finland. And will follow you to any EU country.)

See more info on Getting there

Advertisement