Lieksa

For the 2007 film titled Lieksa! in Finnish, see The Matriarch (film).

Lieksa (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈlie̯ksɑ]) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of 10,002 (30 June 2025)^[2] and covers an area of 4,067.60 square kilometres (1,570.51 sq mi) of which 649.14 km² (250.63 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 2.93 inhabitants per square kilometre (7.6/sq mi).

Lieksa
Town
Lieksan kaupunki Lieksa stad
Town center of Lieksa
Coat of arms
Location of Lieksa in Finland
Coordinates: 63°19′N 030°01′E
Country	Finland
Region	North Karelia
Sub-region	Pielinen Karelia
Charter	1973
Government
• Town manager	Esko Lehto, Tino Timonen[citation needed]
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	4,067.60 km2 (1,570.51 sq mi)
• Land	3,417.86 km2 (1,319.64 sq mi)
• Water	649.14 km2 (250.63 sq mi)
• Rank	15th largest in Finland
Population  (2025-06-30)[2]
• Total	10,002
• Rank	97th largest in Finland
• Density	2.93/km2 (7.6/sq mi)
Population by native language [2]
• Finnish	93.5% (official)
• Others	6.5%
Population by age [3]
• 0 to 14	9.9%
• 15 to 64	52%
• 65 or older	38.1%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website	www.lieksa.fi

A railway station building in Lieksa

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.^[4]

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)	25.9 (78.6)	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[5]
Source 2: FMI (record highs and lows)[6]

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

See also

• Lieksanjoki
• Koli National Park
• Koli, Finland
• Kuhmo
• Reboly