Virrat | |
Official Name: | Finnish: Virtain kaupunki Swedish: Virdois stad |
Other Name: | Virdois |
Settlement Type: | Town |
Coordinates: | 62.25°N 69°W |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Finland |
Subdivision Type1: | Region |
Subdivision Name1: | Pirkanmaa |
Subdivision Type2: | Sub-region |
Subdivision Name2: | Upper Pirkanmaa sub-region |
Leader Title: | Town manager |
Leader Name: | Henna Viitanen |
Established Title: | Charter |
Established Date: | 1868 |
Timezone: | EET |
Utc Offset: | +02:00 |
Timezone Dst: | EEST |
Utc Offset Dst: | +03:00 |
Virrat (in Finnish ˈʋirːɑt/; Swedish: Virdois) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region, and it is located north of Tampere and west of Jyväskylä. The distance between Virrat and Helsinki is . The town has a population of and covers an area of NaNVirrat}} ofwhich NaNVirrat}}is water. The population density isNaNVirrat. The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
The town grew rapidly in the middle years of the twentieth century, and by 1950 the population reached more than 12,000. Virrat acquired town status in 1977, although it had received the right to hold markets three years earlier, in 1974. More recently the population level has been adversely impacted by the drift of employment opportunities and people to the larger towns. Apart from the town of Virrat itself, the administratively defined municipality is largely rural, and includes the villages of Äijänneva, Härkönen Jäähdyspohja, Killinkoski, Koro, Kotala, Kurjenkylä, Liedenpohja, Ohtola, Vaskuu, and Vaskivesi.
Major lakes in the area are Lake Toisvesi, beside which the town of Virrat is located, and Lake Tarjanne at the border of the municipalities of Virrat, Mänttä-Vilppula, and Ruovesi.
Virrat crater on Mars is named after it.
Virrat has a subarctic climate (Dfc). Diurnal air temperature variation is higher than in other parts of Pirkanmaa.