Parts of the region did not have snow cover at all, unlike in normal winters. The gray November lasted for several months and in some places the temperature did not stay long enough below zero, which is needed to record thermal winter. Autumn was thus followed by Spring in some parts of Finland, which has not been really recorded before. For instance in Helsinki, the snow depth record of 2019-2020 winter was reached in beginning of April - a couple centimeters. Precipitation was high, but it did not come as snow, unlike in the northern parts of Scandinavia, where new snow records were reached. For instance in Sodankylä, in Central Lapland, the snow depth reached over 120 cm, which is about 40 cm higher than on average.

This duality was also apparent in the seas during this winter. In the Baltic Sea, only the bottom of the Bothnian Bay had a more permanent sea ice coverage, whereas there in the waters around Svalbard there was more sea ice than in recent years.

But what kind of weather and climate conditions can one expect to find in the different corners of the vast NPA region? As these factors also impact OSR activities, it is important to know the basics. Norwegian Meteorological Institute and University of Oulu have put together a report, which outlines the climatic zones that cover the NPA region. Potential red areas for OSR actions, where currently used OSR technologies are not compatible with climatic and weather factors, are also discussed in the report, which can be downloaded from below.