[Dave K]

DAY 177: Another day with some very low minima for April but with many excluded forom points as the maxima were 0.0 °C or above. It's just the 8 scorers today with no ice days outside Russia and the Nordic countries. Naimakka is the sole mover in the Top 15, up one place to 10th; and as usual no changes in the national rankings.

BTW another 20ish stations in European Russia were added to the Ogimet reporting this morning bringing its total to 269.

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Kemi (Northern Sami: Giepma) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio. It was founded in 1869 by royal decree, because of its proximity to a deep water harbour.

Kemi is situated by the Bothnian Bay, at the mouth of river Kemijoki, and it is part of Lapland region. The town has a population of 22,386 (31 January 2012)[2] and covers an area of 747.44 square kilometres (288.59 sq mi) of which 652.1 km2 (251.8 sq mi) is water. The population density is 234.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (608 /sq mi).



The main economic activity in Kemi is centred on two large paper and woodpulp mills and on the only chromium mine in Europe (which supplies the Outokumpu ferrochrome plant in Tornio). A polytechnic university is also situated in Kemi.

Kemi also has a claim to fame as the home of the world's largest snow castle (reconstructed every year with a different architecture). The snowcastle is usually located at the inner harbour of Kemi.



A model of The Crown of Finland (original was never made for the King of Finland) is kept in the Gemstone gallery. There are also replicas like the Imperial State Crown of Great Britain; the Sceptre of the Czar of Russia; Orbs of Denmark and the Diamond necklace of Marie Antoinette among other things.

It's also the hometown of the power metal band Sonata Arctica.



During World War II, after Finland signed the Moscow Armistice and found itself involved in the Lapland War with its former German ally, German forces in the beginning of October 1944 captured 132 Finnish civilian hostages from Kemi (as well as 130 from Rovaniemi) and threatened to kill them unless the Finnish army released German POWs captured at the Battle of Tornio. However, the Finns refused to comply and threatened to retaliate by killing the German POWs. The hostages were released unharmed on October 11, 1944, near Rovaniemi.

In April 2007, the city of Kemi laid off all of its municipal workers for 2 weeks due to the failing economy of the city. Spiraling specialist health care costs and a fleeting industry tax base are stated as the cause for the vote.[6] These are the most drastic temporary dismissals to take place in Finland since 2000.

Kemi railway station is an intermediate station on the railway between Lapland and Helsinki. It is operated by VR. The junction of the Kolari and Rovaniemi lines lies to the north of Kemi station.

Finnish national road 4 and European routes E8 and E75 run through the town. Kemi-Tornio Airport is located 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) north of Kemi city centre.

Kemi is twinned with Newtownards in Northern Ireland.

[Dave K]

DAY 178: A much less cold day, and the models suggesting rather milder air will flood into Russia, even perhaps parts of Scandi over the next few days. A little encouragement at last that an ice day free day could happen by the end of the month - I'm not convinced becasue it could be temporary but the chances of the project coming to a natural end are improving

Only 7 scorers today as there was just one ice day in Finland and for the first time since maybe November not a single location scored more than 1.0 points, the coldest minimum on the list was the highest value since 1st Dec. Naimakka has left its charge late but continues to climb moving up two places to 8th. No other changes in the location or national rankings.

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 11 April 2012 - 15:14

[Dave K]

DAY 179: Spring is in the air! Out of the 30 or so coldest minima in Russia only two were ice days and none at all in Norway/Sweden/Finland or tha Baltic states. This means there are only three locations that score points today and no change the Top15 locations. If I could tell you anything about Cape Shvedskij I would but apart from the fact it was newly added to Ogimet a fortnight ago and is a first time scorer and that it's in the back end of nowhere in the Nenets region near the Pechora Sea there is a complete lack of info anywhere even in Russian

[Dave K]

DAY 180: There were some rather cold minima again but once more the maxima were above freezing so we have 5 scorers today with stations from Russia, Sweden and Iceland. No real effect on the tables but Grímsstaðir is catching up on 15th place in the location rankings again. Have a feeling that there's still a while to go before the first totally ice day free day.

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There seems to be nowhere remote or inaccessible enough for the Russians not to plonk a weather station. Today we have Cape Bolvanskij ( Мыс Болванский )which is right on the edge of what counts for Europe in this project. It is of course impossible to find out anything about the location itself except that it is at the tip of Vaygach Island, just close enough to the mainland not to be an Arctic Island.



Vaygach Island (Russian: Вайга́ч) is an island in the Arctic Sea between the Pechora Sea and the Kara Sea.

Vaygach Island is separated from the Yugorsky Peninsula in the mainland by the Yugorsky Strait and from Novaya Zemlya by the Kara Strait. The island is a part of Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.

Area: 3,383 square kilometres (1,306 sq mi)
Length: ~ 100 kilometres (62 mi)
Width: up to 45 kilometres (28 mi)
Average temperatures: -20 °C (-4 °F) (February), 5 °C (41 °F) (June)
Highest point: 170 metres (560 ft)

Vaygach Island is mainly formed of argillaceous slates, sandstone, and limestone. There are many rivers about 20–40 kilometres (12–25 mi) in length, swamps, and small lakes on the island. For the most part it consists of tundra. Slight rocky ridges run generally along its length, and the coast has low cliffs in places. The island consists mostly of limestone, and its elevation above the sea is geologically recent. Raised beaches are frequent. The rocks are heavily scored by ice, but this was probably marine ice, not that of glaciers. The settlements of Vaygach, Dolgaya Guba, and Varnek are located on the island.

Grasses, mosses and Arctic flowering plants are abundant, but there are no trees excepting occasional dwarf willows. Foxes and lemmings are spotted occasionally. While there are not many land animals on the island, birds are very numerous; a variety of ducks, waders etc. frequent the marshes and lakes.

In 2007, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Russian government have approved a nature reserve on Vaygach island. The island's surrounding seas are home to many marine mammals such as walruses, seals and endangered whales.

The name of the island translates from the Nenets as "alluvial shore". Until the 19th century, the island was an important shrine of the Nenets people. There were polycephalic wooden idols painted with blood of holy animals, primarily reindeer. Some of their sacrificial piles, consisting of drift-wood, deer's horns and the skulls of bears and deer, have been observed by travellers. In spite of their conversion to Christianity, the Nenets still regard these piles with superstition.

[Dave K]

DAY 181: Typically, as Eastern and northern Europe warms up a bit - Iceland cools right down so it looks as if the 6 month mark will pass before this project comes to a natural end. No changes in the standings but Grímsstaðir is now just 0.38 behind Kautokeino in 15th place.

[Dave K]

DAY 182: Looks like Europe is going to fight tooth and nail to keep this project going, Iceland had no ice days but there is one each from Russia, Finland and Norway - quite cool ones to compared to those of late. Kilpisjärvi closes in on 4th place on the location rankings.

[Ian Williams]

My prediction for first "No Ice Day" is April 29th ;)

[Dave K]

Ian Williams, on 15 April 2012 - 16:49, said:

My prediction for first "No Ice Day" is April 29th ;)

Well at this rate I'm not sure it will happen even before June

DAY 183: After a brief dalliance with spring getting my hopes up of an impending end to the project, another plunge in temperatures means we have an increase in incidences of ice days with 8 scorers and much colder maxima/minima than lately. As a result a good day for Finland: Kilpisjärvi has overtaken Petrun' for 4th place (at this rate it could still nab 2nd) and Kuusamo also goes up one place.

[Dave K]

DAY 184: Seems to be a transitional period at the moment with so many locations having a large diurnal range so that their very low minima are cancelled out by positive maxima. Today we do have some rather cold ice days in those places where spring still fears to tread though as well as a couple of locations with not very low minima but a low diurnal range giving them ice days. Storön in Sweden is the latest and 288th location to score points. There are no significant changes in the tables but Kilpisjärvi is within easy reach of 3rd position now.

[Dave K]

DAY 185: Nine scorers today, Grímsstaðir has moved back into the Top 15 locations and Kilpisjärvi has taken over 3rd place. Just when is winter going to end for these places?!

[Dave K]

DAY 186: There are 9 scorers again today but no significant changes in the league tables.

[Dave K]

DAY 187: If GFS has it right there could be some extremely cold air flowing back into northern and NE parts of Europe in next 10 days - I might be carrying this through the summer at this rate! Grímsstaðir has moved up one place to 14th and Kilpisjärvi could make a late charge for 2nd place...

[Dave K]

Oddly only three ice days today, two for Russia and one for Iceland and none have an impact on the league positions, so I'm going to call an end to it for 2011/12 as of yesterday because I need a break from it!

I'll be updating tomorrow probably with the final league tables, but I declare after winning for two years running:

EUROPE'S ICEBOX: NIKKALUOKTA ( SWEDEN )




Representatives of the village may now claim their coals-to-Newcastle prize

[Ian Williams]

Nice one Dave, that was some drawn out saga and like you say you could be still doing this come June lol Great work Dave

[Dave K]

Ian Williams, on 21 April 2012 - 13:25, said:

Nice one Dave, that was some drawn out saga and like you say you could be still doing this come June lol Great work Dave

Thanks Ian. Well the change of format didn't help the UK or France very much, out of the 288 scorers

[Dave K]

The final Top 20 table for all locations, and the final table for all nations that scored. Remember that minimum temperatures in the tables only include those which scored for the project and therefore may not be the absolute coldest at the location or for the nation this winter.