This was the scene in Aland at 4.30pm local time today, captured by the webcam overlooking Mariehamn's western harbour. This is about half a mile from the athletics stadium. Web link http://www.ha.ax/weather/ha/index.php?link=4&camsize=1Whilst the Isle of Man has been basking in temperatures of up to 25C over the past few days, it seems that summer has yet to fully arrive in Aland. After a promising few days last week when the temperature got up to around 14C, the BBC forecast today shows a maximum temperature for the next 2 days of only 9C in Mariehamn, and some rain is expected in the coming days. Indeed when I had a quick look at the webcam at 4.30pm local time today, the temperature was only 6.1C, it was windy and the rain was lashing down. Just like a horrible mid-January day here, except with more than 20 hours of daylight!
Of course things can change a lot in 3 weeks, and hopefully we will get plenty of sunny and pleasantly warm weather during the Games. I guess the best advice for everyone going to Aland is to be prepared for anything! My bags will contain t-shirts and shorts, but there will also be waterproofs, fleeces, gloves, a woolly hat and a fairly thick coat in there as well. I suspect that the fleece jacket Gail insisted on taking to Rhodes 2 years ago will definitely be worn at some stage this time!
They only have a fairly short summer in Aland, and it’s a heck of a long winter there. Towards the end of April, the temperature was still hovering around the freezing mark, and in the depths of winter there are only a few short hours of daylight. We complain about our winters here, but from the point of view of training for the Island Games I think our athletes have much better year-round conditions than our rivals from the more northerly islands.
22 days to go – must get those Euros ordered!
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