Ice-Out River Teno Utsjoki, Finland (Lapland) (Back to Journey North Ice-out Contest) Predict This Year's Ice-out Date for the River Teno! Write your prediction on this "Contact Us" form. We'll send news this spring when the River Teno becomes ice-free and we'll announce the contest winners. About This Site   Our school in Utsjoki Girls put up a local teepee in a competition on Sami National Day, February 6. The school held a celebration. Students from Annikki Lauerma's class send greetings! Here are two letters we received April 24, 2003 about their unusual spring:   Spring in Utsjoki (2003) By Kalle Junttila, Joni Saijets, Reo Virtanen This year in Utsjoki has been very unusual. the whole winter has been absolutely weird because we hardly have had any snow on the ground. January was extremely cold, almost -30 degrees all the time. And we had snow only 20 centimetres, and now there is no snow anymore. It has melted off. Once we even had a big storm. Lots of trees were falling down. The wind was blowing about 30 metres per second, and that defines as a huge storm! We decided to organize the ice fishing competition in Nuorgam at 1st of May, but maybe we have to cancel it, because the lakes are melting. All the tributaries of Teno are flooding and there have become a few holes in the ice of Teno. This writing has made at the 22nd of April, and my guess is that the ice-out of the river Teno will be about two weeks from this day. Normally we go snowboarding at the Easter, but now we were skateboarding." And Janne Nieminen writes about. . . A Not So Average Spring in Utsjoki (2003) " I have been in a continuous state of amazement for the last week or two. The sun is shining, the weather is warm, most of the snow is gone! Spring came really early this year. Usually, we would be seeing this kind of weather in a month or so. But hey, no problem. I'm not complaining! Of course, the sunshine and the warmth have an effect on the ice covering the river Teno. The last time I went to check on the situation, there was a lot of water on the ice, and it was cracked in many places. If we continue to have this kind of weather, we can expect ice-out pretty soon."   Photos Courtesy Annikki Lauerma The students have more to say! See other letters: Letters from Students in Utsjoki Teacher Annikki Lauerma adds, " It was very warm but now it seems to be turning colder again. And the river Teno still is ice-covered. In May the ice-out competition will be going on in full swing. The lucky ones who guess the right date and exact time will get prizes like bikes, a traditional lean-to, fishing gear, etc." Best regards, Annikki Lauerma Utsjoen saamelaislukio, Finland Historic Ice-out Records for River Teno 1881-1983 1983-2000 and. . . 2001: May 3 at 2:06 p.m. 2002: April 29 at 5:40 p.m. 2003: May 13 at 11:45 a.m. Facebook Pinterest Twitter © 1997 – 2019 Journey North. All rights reserved.