Ecotourism
Estonia

The climate in Estonia is determined by the country’s location at the northwestern reaches of the Eurasian continent and the proximity of the North Atlantic. In the same way, local climatic differences are due, above all, to the vicinity of the Baltic Sea. Thus, summer temperatures are somewhat lower than the average for the latitude, but winter temperatures are considerably warmer. The average temperature of the coldest month, February, is –3.5° to – 7 °C, that of the warmest, July, being 16 to 18°C.

Permanent snow cover becomes established in the southeast at the beginning of December, at the earliest; and by the end of March, the snow can be more than half a metre deep. Apart from the coast and the Western Islands, the snow cover lasts for approximately 100 days: from the beginning of January to the end of March. In mild winters, however, much of Estonia does not have lasting snow cover at all.

Because of the influence of the warm Gulf Stream, the prevailing winds in Estonia blow from the southwest and west. Severe weather conditions, such as tempests and whirlwinds, are rare: the last hurricane raged through Estonia in 1969.

Source: Estonian Institute