Live cameras in Turku, Finland

Turku is the oldest city in Finland, lying on the southwest coast where the Aura river meets the Archipelago Sea. About 210,000 people live in the city and around 320,000 in its wider region. The town is first mentioned in a papal letter of 1229, and for centuries it was the most important place in the country, serving briefly as the capital until Helsinki took over in 1812. A great fire in 1827 destroyed most of the old town, but the medieval cathedral and Turku Castle at the river mouth survived. Life today centers on the riverbanks, lined with cafés, restaurants and moored boats. Each Christmas Eve at noon the Declaration of Christmas Peace is read in the Old Great Square, a tradition reaching back centuries.

What the cameras show

For Turku, the camera feed is Fintraffic's, shared openly through Digitraffic. They are road-weather cameras placed at weather stations along main roads, typically with more than one viewing direction, and their still images are refreshed several times an hour. In this region they cover major routes such as the E18 motorway toward Helsinki, Highway 8 heading north along the coast toward Pori, Highway 9 toward Tampere and Highway 10 toward Hämeenlinna. They give a quick read on snow, slush and fog.

Turku is an hour ahead of Stockholm across the sea, on Eastern European Time. The sea keeps winters a little milder than inland, but wet snow, freezing drizzle and morning fog are frequent from November to March. In late December the sun is up for under six hours, while June days last around nineteen. Big ferries to Stockholm and the Åland Islands leave from the harbor every day, so traffic near the port rises around sailing times.

Nearby, the island town of Naantali, home to Moominworld, sits just west, and the Archipelago Trail loops through thousands of islands to the south and west by road, bridge and ferry.

Sources: Turku - Wikipedia · Fintraffic Digitraffic - road weather cameras · Visit Turku.