”In midsummer the weather might be warm”

What newspapers tell about the Finns’ relationship to weather and climate?

Abstract

Weather is the medium through which we connect with climate in our everyday activities. It creates our understanding of the climate and its meanings in particular places. Hence, there is a rising interest in studying the everyday weather experiences as a means to understand the ways climate and climate change affect our daily lives, and to explain different perceptions on climate change and conflicts over climate policies. Building on studies related to cultural understanding of climate change, this paper examines the contexts and ways weather is narrated in newspaper media in Finland. The analysis is based on weather related news reports on the year of strange weather, 2018, published in two major Finnish newspapers Helsingin Sanomat and Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, the former focusing on the capital region and the latter on rural issues. In the newspaper reports, weather is constantly creating problems and acting against the average (the climate), but also producing benerfits. The rural weather reports emphasise experiential knowledge and long-term impacts of weather, while the city narratives are more grounded on meteorological knowledge and dramatise the daily weather. In the context of climate adaptation, it is useful to better understand the contextual nature of the meaning of weather.