Rovaniemi, a city nestled on the Arctic Circle in northern Finland, is grappling with an unusual heatwave, with temperatures soaring to 30 degrees Celsius, driving locals to seek relief at nearby beaches. The Finnish Meteorological Centre reported that Rovaniemi hit 29.2°C on Tuesday, while a thermometer at the iconic Santa Village—home to Santa Claus and his reindeer—displayed a sweltering 30°C that afternoon.

While summer temperatures in northern Finland typically hover around 20°C, such extreme heat is uncommon but increasingly frequent. The heatwave has swept across Finland, with many regions surpassing 30°C. A recent study in the journal Nature highlighted that the summer of 2024 was the warmest on record in northern Scandinavia and Finland, with June to August temperatures eclipsing the previous high set in 1937.