Rare June Snowfall in Estonia

By: Christopher C. Burt , 6:29PM,GMT on June 20,2014

Rare June Snowfall in Estonia

Just weeks following record high temperatures, portions of Estonia, Latvia, and Russia saw a rare June snowfall on June 17th. In the U.S., snow also fell on the same day in the mountains of Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. Some significant accumulations were reported at relatively low elevations as well.

Estonia and Latvia Snow Event

On Tuesday, June 17th, snowfall was observed in portions of central Estonia and Latvia. The fall was brief and accumulations no more than a centimeter or two, but it was the first June snowfall in the country since exactly 32 years ago, when it also snowed on June 17, 1982. The only site that saw the ground briefly whitened was Valke-Maarja at an elevation of only about 100 m (330’) in the central part of the country. Temperatures were above freezing (in the 2°-4°C/35°-40°F) hence the minor accumulations.



Snow falling in Valke-Maarja, Estonia this past Tuesday, June 17th. The snow fell for only about 20-30 minutes but it was enough to whiten the ground as can be seen in the above image. Photo courtesy of Daniele Ingemi.

Other sites in Estonia that saw snowflakes included Lehtse and Kunda. Amazingly, it was at Kunda last May that Estonia observed its all-time national monthly heat record when the temperature soared to 33.1°C (91.6°F) on May 19th. Snow was also reported in parts of neighboring Latvia and in the area around Tver in Russia (about 200 km northwest of Moscow). All of these regions had, up until this week, been experiencing record early summer and late spring heat.

U.S. Snowstorm in the West

Substantial snowfall was reported in the mountains of Utah (Alta saw 9”), Montana (up to 10”), and Wyoming (up to 9”) generally above the 7,000-foot level earlier this week on June 17-18.



A deep fresh snow accumulation (6”) on the ground in the Brighton Ski Resort area of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains on June 18th. Nearby Alta (elevation 8,770’) picked up 9”, its 3rd greatest June snowfall since records began in 1905. In June 1984 Alta saw 25” of snowfall for the month. Photo tweeted to The Weather Channel by ‘EnglandCounsel’.

Although June snowfall in the Rocky Mountains is far from unusual (in fact occurs almost every year above 9,000’) some ‘low’ elevation sites also saw accumulations. Most impressive was the 3.5” reported at Evanston in Wyoming (elevation 6,800’) located in the southwest corner of the state. It was Evanston’s first measureable snowfall in June since 1998 (when 4.5” accumulated). The June record monthly snowfall was 9.0” in 1941. Evanston also had a record low maximum temperature of only 44° on June 17th.

KUDOS: Thanks to Daniele Ingemi for Estonian snow images and Maximiliano Herrera for European snow event information.

Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian