Finland's Coldest Town Wants To Host 2032 Summer Olympics - By Then, It'll Be Nice And Warm

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Salla, Finland, population 3,396, advertises itself as “in the middle of nowhere.” North of the Arctic Circle, it prides itself on being the coldest place in Finland, with winter temperatures in the minus double digits. But Salla also cares about the climate crisis, and town officials, partnering with the youth climate organization Fridays for Future, have created a satiric video offering up the town as a perfect site for the 2032 summer Olympics.

In the video, a woman holding the Olympic torch runs through a frozen landscape shouting “The heat is coming,” and a man skis shirtless behind a reindeer weilding a flag saying “Salla 2032.” Athletes play beach volleyball in the snow, swim in a freezing lake and ride BMX bikes down an ice-slicked hill.

The video is meant to be humorous, but it’s intention is more serious. The last two decades in Salla have been about 1.07 degrees Celsius warmer than the long-term average in the municipality, following the same trend seen across the Arctic, which is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

“Our observations in Salla show that migratory birds arrive earlier than before, snow melts earlier than before, birch trees are starting to make leaves earlier than before,” said Tuukka Petäjä, a professor at the University of Helsinki. “There’s more and more pine trees growing in higher and higher altitudes above the treeline and they survive because of the warming environment.”

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30012021/warming-trends-airports-underwater-david-pogues-new-book-and-a-summer-olympic-bid-by-the-coldest-place-in-finland/