HELSINKI, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Finland this year has recorded its highest average temperature for a winter season since 1900, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said Thursday.

    The average temperature in the Finnish capital Helsinki in January was 0.6 degrees Celsius, which was 4.8 degrees higher than that of the period between 1971 and 2000, said the institute.

    Global warming and unusually constant warm currents from the south and the southwest may have contributed to the extraordinarily mild winter, the institute added.

    A recent poll showed that eight out of ten people see climate change as a great threat and most Finns would be willing to take more economic responsibility for global climate change.