# Lieksa

Lieksa (Finnish pronunciation:) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of 10,057 (31 December 2024) and covers an area of 4,067.60 square kilometres (1,570.51 sq mi) of which 649.14 km$^2$ (250.63 sq mi) is water. The population density is 2.94 inhabitants per square kilometre (7.6/sq mi).
The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
The town of Lieksa was established in 1973 when the Market town of Lieksa and the Municipality of Pielisjärvi were consolidated.

## Geography

Neighbouring municipalities are Ilomantsi, Joensuu, Juuka, Kontiolahti, Kuhmo and Nurmes.

### Populated places

Populated places within Lieksa include:
* Mätäsvaara
* Vieki

### Climate

Lieksa has a subarctic climate (Köppen: Dfc), 0.7°C away from the threshold of the humid continental climate. Lieksa has more continental characteristics than most of the Nordics and Finland, making it prone to extreme temperatures, especially in winter. In summer temperatures regularly exceed 20.0 °C (68.0 °F), and the highest temperature ever recorded was 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) in July 1934. Also, during the Heatwave of 2010, the temperature in Lieksa reached 35.4 °C (95.7 °F) degrees. In winter, the snow cover is usually around 60 cm deep. On a typical winter night, the temperature drops to around −15.0 °C (5.0 °F) and readings as low as −30.0 °C (−22.0 °F) are not unusual. The coldest temperature ever observed in Lieksa was −47.0 °C (−52.6 °F) in December 1919.
Climate data for Lieksa, 1991-2020 normals, extremes 1916-present :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 6.7 (44.1) | 6.6 (43.9) | 11.6 (52.9) | 23.6 (74.5) | 30.2 (86.4) | 31.8 (89.2) | 35.6 (96.1) | 31.9 (89.4) | 24.3 (75.7) | 18.4 (65.1) | 10.4 (50.7) | 7.6 (45.7) | 35.6 (96.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −6 (21) | −5.5 (22.1) | −0.1 (31.8) | 6.2 (43.2) | 13.7 (56.7) | 18.8 (65.8) | 21.7 (71.1) | 19.2 (66.6) | 13.3 (55.9) | 5.8 (42.4) | 0.1 (32.2) | −3.4 (25.9) | 7.0 (44.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −9.4 (15.1) | −9.4 (15.1) | −4.7 (23.5) | 1.5 (34.7) | 8.4 (47.1) | 13.8 (56.8) | 16.6 (61.9) | 14.3 (57.7) | 9.3 (48.7) | 3.2 (37.8) | −2 (28) | −6.2 (20.8) | 3.0 (37.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −13.4 (7.9) | −13.9 (7.0) | −9.6 (14.7) | −3.2 (26.2) | 2.8 (37.0) | 8.3 (46.9) | 11.4 (52.5) | 9.6 (49.3) | 5.4 (41.7) | 0.7 (33.3) | −4.6 (23.7) | −9.4 (15.1) | −1.3 (29.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −41.8 (−43.2) | −42.4 (−44.3) | −38.8 (−37.8) | −21.4 (−6.5) | −15.0 (5.0) | −6.5 (20.3) | −1.5 (29.3) | −2.0 (28.4) | −7.8 (18.0) | −21.5 (−6.7) | −30.5 (−22.9) | −47.0 (−52.6) | −47.0 (−52.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 55 (2.2) | 46 (1.8) | 43 (1.7) | 37 (1.5) | 55 (2.2) | 75 (3.0) | 93 (3.7) | 83 (3.3) | 76 (3.0) | 76 (3.0) | 67 (2.6) | 66 (2.6) | 772 (30.6) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 21 | 18 | 16 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 201 |
| Source 1: FMI ||||||||||||||
| Source 2: FMI (record highs and lows) ||||||||||||||

## Notable people

* Heino Kaski (1885–1957), composer
* Mira Jalosuo (born 1989), Olympic ice hockey medalist
* Ilmari Juutilainen (1914–1999), top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force
* Jorma J. Rissanen (1933–2020), information theorist
* Marutei Tsurunen (弦念丸呈, ツルネン・マルテイ, Tsurunen Marutei, born Martti Turunen in 1940), Finnish-born Japanese politician and first European-born member of the Diet of Japan
* Heikki Turunen (born 1945), author