Lapland: Santa Claus confronted with global warming

In Finnish Lapland, Santa Claus and his elves are busy taking photos with tourists and responding to letters received from all over the world, but they are very helpless in the face of a new phenomenon: there is little snow, at Christmas time. global warming.

Rovaniemi, an Arctic village that Finnish tourism marketing has sold since the 1980s as the “real home” of Santa Claus, should be all white at the end of November.

Instead, the thermometer shows +2°C and the rain falls heavily in the gray sky.

“I expected there to be a lot more snow. I mean, we feel the Christmas atmosphere… but I thought it would be a little more like Santa Claus,” confides Wenguel, an American tourist.

“My reindeer can fly, so there’s no problem!” laughs one of the town’s Santas, dressed all in red and white.

Before immediately admitting: “We see that climate change is real. It affects life here in the Arctic, including reindeer.”

Because of milder and more unpredictable winters, the snow melts and then refreezes, so that layers of ice accumulate and reindeer struggle to dig up lichen, their main food.

The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than other regions of the world, according to a study published in the journal “Nature” in 2022.

The last few months have been historically warm in Finnish Lapland. A new record was set for November, at 11.1°C in the town of Utsjoki. The previous one, 11°C, dated from 1975.

Tourists from all over the world are there, many hoping to see the Northern Lights light up the sky.

Rovaniemi recorded more than a million overnight stays last year, a record.

Visitors wanting to meet Santa Claus can head to the village of the same name, or to the nearby Santa Park underground amusement park.

“It’s really nice. It’s like in Christmas movies, super magical,” says Maria Batista Torres, originally from Tenerife, Spain, who came with her two young children and who does not seem bothered by the absence of snow.

Entrance to Santa Claus Village is free, but a photo with him costs at least 40 euros. Rovaniemi also sees snowmobile or reindeer sleigh outings.

Despite a gloomy sky, Santa’s post office is bustling with activity, with red-headed elves busy stamping cards and sorting piles of letters.

“In December, there can be around 30,000 letters per day,” explains postal elf Heidi Mustonen, who has worked here for 20 years. More than half a million letters reach Santa every year according to Heidi, who ensures that each one is read carefully. Most are gift wish lists, but adults and children also write to share their concerns.

“This year, many people wanted peace,” says Heidi. Most of the letters from Asia were written by young adults, many of whom ask for strength to complete their studies. Those from European countries were written by children.

If she rejoices in the warm and joyful atmosphere that reigns in Santa’s village, Heidi would like the snow to brighten up the landscape.

“We would put snow everywhere if we could. But we are only postal elves,” she says.