Finland and Sweden record coldest temperatures of the winter

A man walks by the Allas Sea Pool, in Southern Helsinki, Finland, on Tuesday, as temperatures plummeted in the Nordic region. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP)

Finland and Sweden recorded the coldest temperatures of the winter Tuesday as thermometers plummeted to minus 40C (minus 40F) as a result of a cold spell prevailing in the Nordic region.

In Nikkaluokta, a small village inhabited by the indigenous Sami people in northern Sweden, the thermometer showed minus 41.6C (minus 42.8F) early on Tuesday, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported.