During last few years, it has been reported great floods in Finland and elsewhere in the world. For example in 2012 autumn, heavy and prolonged rains caused flooding in Finland, and in 2013 there were widespread floods in Europe due to the rainy spring. In addition to the prolonged rain periods, flooding can be caused in Finland also by spring snow melt, frazil ice and ice dams, but also they may relate to exceptionally high sea water levels. Presently, Finland can be divided broadly into three main watershed areas. The coastal watersheds are rather small, and they experience rain and snow melt induced flooding. The wide lake area watersheds experience more long lasting floods and Northern rivers experience mainly spring floods due to the snow melt.
Lotsari, E. 2012. Fluvial processes and their future magnitudes: combined field observation and simulation approaches. Doctoral thesis (article-based). Department of Geography and Geology; Geography Division. Annales Universitatis Turkuensis A II 270.