With Christmas a month away, Santa is busy making preparations, but the warming climate and lack of snow in his Arctic hometown has him worried.

At this time of year, the town of Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, marketed by tourism officials as the “real” home of Santa Claus since the 1980s, must be white and beautiful.

But on our last visit it rained from a gloomy sky and the temperature was well above freezing, with the thermometer reading +2C.

“My reindeer can fly, so it’s no problem,” said the man in the red suit and long white beard, resting his tired legs after a long day of meeting excited children and adults.

But the man, whose employers refused to identify him by his real name, added: “We can see that climate change is real. And it’s affecting the reindeer. It’s affecting life here in the Arctic.”

Herders say milder, more unpredictable winters mean reindeer have trouble finding lichens, their main food.

Snow and ice melted and refrozen and were buried under layers of ice.

According to research published by Finland-based scientists in the journal Nature in 2022, the Arctic is warming faster than other parts of the world due to climate change; almost four times faster.

Rising global temperatures due to humans burning fossil fuels have been aggravating weather disasters such as floods and droughts around the world in recent years.

In Finnish Lapland, after a historically warm summer, a new November temperature record was set a few weeks ago with 11.1°C measured in the town of Utsjoki, breaking the previous record of 11.0°C set in 1975.

tourism boom

Tourists flock to Rovaniemi from all over the world to see its stunning snowy landscapes and experience the Arctic cold.

With only a few hours of daylight at this time of year, many people hope to see the magnificent colors of the Northern Lights float across the dark sky.

Last year, a record number of more than one million overnight stays were recorded in the town.

Visitors looking to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus can meet the man at different locations in Rovaniemi, including the Santa Park underground theme park and the nearby Santa Claus Village.

“It’s beautiful. It’s like in the Christmas movies, super magical,” said Maria Batista Torres from Tenerife, Spain, who visited Santa’s Village with her two young children.

Sparkling fairy lights illuminate the rooftops and trees at Santa’s Village, which is open all year round.

But “I thought it would be much more profitable,” said Wenguel, a visitor from the United States.

“I mean, it still feels like Christmas… but I thought it would be a little more Santa-like.”

In addition to meeting Santa Claus, visitors can pay to ride a snowmobile or reindeer sleigh.

While visiting Santa Claus’s Village is free, a photo with Santa costs at least 40 euros ($42).

Wishing you peace

Gloomy skies aside, Santa’s Post Office in Santa’s Village was busy in the Christmas rush with red-hooded elves stamping cards and sorting through stacks of letters.

“There could be about 30,000 letters coming in every day in December,” said Heidi Mustonen, a mail elf who has worked here for 20 years.

Heidi said that more than half a million letters to Santa Claus arrive here every year, and insisted that each letter be opened and read thoroughly.

Most letters were wish lists, but both children and adults wrote letters to Santa to tell him about their personal concerns, fears, wishes, and joys; Many of the envelopes contained drawings and small gifts.

“Many people wished for peace this year,” Heidi said.

He said most of the letters sent from Asian countries were written by young adults, with many asking for strength to cope with their education.

By the way, most of the letters from European countries were written by children.

Heidi said she loved the warm and happy atmosphere in Santa’s village but wished the snowfall would brighten up the view.

“We’d make it snow everywhere if we could. But we’re just mail elves.”