Another storm front approaching Finland

Finnish Meteorological Institute issues warning of possible damage from gale force winds

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As the curiously mild and unsettled weather pattern continues into its fifth week, yet another storm front is expected to arrive in Southern Finland on Thursday evening. According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute forecast, the chance of structural damage from the expected gale- and storm force winds is particularly great in the southern provinces on Thursday night and in Central Finland during the course of Friday.
      Meteorologist Eero Ojala from the Finnish Meteorological Institute reckons that Finland experiences between one and four storms of this calibre per year.
      "This is not totally unheard of, but when the wind speed in the maritime areas reaches 25 metres per second, it is not very common either. According to the prediction there is a good chance of that", Ojala continues.
     
The storm centre will arrive in Northern Finland from the British Isles across Norway. The worst winds will therefore hit the southern parts of the country, whereas most rain will be received in the Province of Oulu, Ojala predicts.
      Westerly and south-westerly winds will strengthen in the southern provinces in the small hours of Friday morning, with gusts reaching the official storm limit of 21 metres per second.
     
In maritime areas the average wind speed can reach 25-30 metres per second on Thursday evening and Friday morning, and in gusts possibly even more.
      During the course of Friday the wind is expected to weaken in the sea areas, as the storm front advances eastwards. The strongest winds will then hit the central parts of the country instead.
      Precipitation of 1-5 millimetres is predicted in the South, 10 mm for central parts of the country, and 10-20 mm for the Province of Oulu.
      In the previous storm that hit Finland on Monday, the speed of wind in gusts reached 25m/s in places in maritime areas.
      The storm also caused trees to fall on power lines, disrupting the electricity distribution to 15,000 households. The high-speed passenger ferry traffic between Helsinki and the Estonian capital of Tallinn was also affected.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Strong winds again disrupt express ferry traffic across Gulf of Finland (12.12.2006)

Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute

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