High winds blasted across south-western Finland Friday, cutting electricity to customers. The rare June storm peaked on Friday afternoon.
As many allergy-sufferers across Finland may have already suspected, birch pollen levels were very high on Wednesday, according to the University of Turku.
Finland says the low concentrations of radioactive material found in air samples pose no danger.
Seija Paasonen has been tracking the patterns of the North American forest fires for several weeks now. She says that the smoke has traveled as far as Europe owing to wind patterns in the upper atmosphere.
Spring blossoms, dusty streets, distant fires and a lack of rain combine to create hazardous respiratory conditions.
Alder catkins (the pollen-rich flowers on alder trees) haven't reached their peak yet, but there are a lot of them. There can be four to five million pollen particles in a single catkin.
Grass and forest fires are proving difficult to contain in Finnish Lapland, and now several fires on the Russian side of the border are moving into Finland.
Not only is pollen is beginning to spread, but road gravel dust and studded tyres grinding the tarmac can also cause particulates that cause breathing difficulties. There are a few ways to deal with the dust, however.
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