Strong storm causes power failures in southern Finland

Overnight temperature records also broken in many parts

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A strong storm passed over the Finnish capital area during the night and morning, and is now moving towards the east of the country. The Finnish Meteorological Institute has predicted the storm may exceed in strength the previous gale that hit Finland in mid-December.
      Already last night strong winds caused trees to fall and roofing sheets to fly off, while there were several power cuts in the southwest of Finland in particular.
      For example, 14,000 of the energy company Fortum's clients were without electricity at nine o'clock this morning.
      The sea levels have also been affected by the high winds. In the Gulf of Finland and in the Gulf of Bothnia the sea levels were over a metre above the normal figure.
      The sea levels were expected to stay high until midday. After that they were expected to start gradually subsiding.
      Many of the express ferry departures between Helsinki and the Estonian capital Tallinn have been cancelled once again because of the rough seas. At least Nordic Jet Line has already called off some of today's departures and Tallink cancelled the nine o'clock departure of its AutoExpress vessel.
     
The gusting westerly and southwesterly winds were expected to be at their strongest in the southwestern provinces in the morning, in the Helsinki area by noon, and in the southeast in the afternoon.
      In the sea areas such high winds are normally experiences no more than five times a year. In the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland the wind speed reached 20 metres per second already before midnight last night.
     
The storm arrived in Finland from Sweden, where it caused some damage yesterday.
      Last night around midnight up to 50,000 households in western Sweden were without electricity, the news agency TT reports. In Estonia, meanwhile, authorities are warning of possible flooding as sea levels rise by more than a metre from their normal level.
     
Last night, several parts of Finland also saw records set for January temperatures. It was not cold - in fact quite the contrary: at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, for example, the overnight temperature was a balmy 8.2°C, beating the previous record (from 1973) of 7.6°C. This is only the latest in a long string of curious weather statistics that have built up over the past two months, as Southern Finland wonders where its winter has gone.
      According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the abrupt temperature gradient between the strong south-westerly flow of warm air and the cold wind coming down from the north has fed the storm that has raged overnight and into the morning across southern parts of the country. Colder weather is forecast for Thursday, with the possibility of snow and sleet towards the weekend.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Storm leaves over 30,000 households without electricity (15.12.2006)

Links:
  Finnish Meteorological Institute (see also Warnings)

Helsingin Sanomat