I can now honestly say I have been to Finland in winter. I have never seen so much snow in my life (obviously not a skier). We spent our first day back in Helsinki enjoying the nice weather. It was -6C according to one temperature sign we passed (21 F). But it was sunny with no wind and the colder weather had dropped the humidity significantly from our last trip, so it felt comfortable. The sun appeared to be about 35 degrees above the horizon compared to about 20 degrees in December and the days are three hours longer now. I took a short walk around the hotel this morning including a short walk into the woods where I took this picture. You don't want to stray off this path in the snow. It has been packed down hard by all the people using it. The snow is unpacked on either side so if you step off the path you sink down a foot or more.
Tapani, Tom, and I took a bus into downtown Helsinki in the afternoon. The streets are clear but you see snow stacked in huge piles everywhere from the snow plows and shovels. The Esplanade looks completely different from our visit in December. We walked from here down to the harbor. It was frozen solid. Tapani told us that the harbor is still used during the winter, courtesy of icebreakers that come through on a regular basis.
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