1 minute read
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. With New Year holidays approaching and many preparing to take their kids to meet Santa Claus in his Lapland home, holidaymakers are concerned the winter wonderland may be missing a crucial element: snow, CNN reports.
Unseasonably high temperatures have struck Finland's far north, and the region's main tourist attraction -- Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, near the Arctic Circle -- has seen just a few centimeters of patchy snowfall.
Northern Lapland typically receives 20 to 30 centimeters of snow by the end of November, and it is usually snow-covered for around 175 days a year. But concerns are mounting that rising temperatures may wreak havoc on the region's critical wintertravelindustry -- the annual "Santa season."
Several British tour operators have already canceled excursions or entire flights, offering customers refunds or alternative dates.
Ville Siiskonen, a meteorologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told Sky News: "Depending on the projected scenarios, it's expected that by the end of the century there will be much less snow, and in fewer places, in Lapland."