The warmest annual average temperature is in Southwestern Finland 6.5 °C. From there the temperature decreases gradually towards north and east. Suomenselkä and Maanselkä drainage divides rise higher than the surrounding areas, and the climate is there cooler than at same latitudes elsewhere in Finland.[3] Barents Sea between Finland and North Pole is open even in winter, so northerly airflows are not as cold as in Siberia or Alaska.[4]
The highest ever recorded temperature is 37.2 °C (99.0 °F) (Liperi, 29 July 2010).[5] The lowest, −51.5 °C (−60.7 °F) (Kittilä, 28 January 1999). The annual middle temperature is relatively high in the southwestern part of the country (5.0 to 7.5 °C or 41.0 to 45.5 °F), with quite mild winters and warm summers, and low in the northeastern part of Lapland (0 to −4 °C or 32 to 25 °F).