Cyclone Dagmar

Cyclone Patrick-Dagmar-Tapani

Damage in Molde, Norway
Type European windstorm, Extratropical cyclone
Formed 24 December 2011
Dissipated 27 December 2011
Damage $45 million (2011 USD)
Areas affected Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Russia

Cyclone Patrick (named Dagmar by the Norwegian Weather Service[1] and Tapani in Finland[2])

Patrick swept over Norway on Christmas Day 2011 with severe damage in central coastal areas, continuing over the Scandinavian peninsula towards the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland. The storm caused $45 million (2011 USD) in damage.[3]

Meteorological history

Patrick formed as a weak low just south of Newfoundland on 24 December.[4] The system moved across the north Atlantic, deepening rapidly to 971 mb (28.7 inHg) by Christmas Day.[5][6] On 26 December, Patrick made landfall in western Norway with a central pressure of 964 mb (28.5 inHg).[7][8] The storm continued to move eastwards at a rapid pace, however, as it was overland it had weakened significantly.[9] It hit Finland the same day, St. Stephen's Day (Tapani in Finnish), and got the Finnish name due to that day. It then moved out of the Free University of Berlin's tracking charts the next day.[10]

Damaged outbuilding in Norway

Impact

Norway

Patrick (Dagmar) arrived in Norway as a southwesterly storm, with windspeeds estimated to be 30 m/s on the coast. Powerful winds occurred in Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag during the night of 24 December and early morning of 25 December. Extreme high storm surge in Finnmark estimated to be 50–80 cm over normal sea levels, although this was due to the preceding storm Cato (Oliver). In Norway comparison was made with the New Year's Day Storm of 1992, however this storm was not as strong[11] Patrick (Dagmar) is believed to be the third strongest storm to hit Norway in 50 years.[12][13][14] A large landslide on 1 January 2012 close to the Norwegian city of Trondheim has been attributed to the warm weather and large amounts of rain the system brought to the area, which resulted in 50 people being evacuated.[15][16][17] The pier area of Trondheim was badly damaged during the storm, heavily damaging the façade of the Pirbadet water park.[18] A F2 tornado was reported in Hellesylt, Norway. The Tanker BW Thames was disabled and adrift northwest of Bergen as the storm approached, however the crew were able to regain power and survived the storm without incident.[19] The Russian trawler Krasnoselsk sank in Hundeidvika harbour, Sykkylven, Norway.[20][21] Dagmar knocked out 390 Telenor communication masts leaving 40,000 customers without mobile or landline telephone connections.[22] Royal Dutch Shell's Ormen Lange gas processing plant was inoperable after its electricity was cut off by the storm, which left gas supplies in the UK vulnerable as this facility can supply up to 20 percent of the UK's supply via the Langeled pipeline.[23]

Sweden

Storm Dagmar mostly affected Southern Norrland and northern Svealand.[24] The Swedish transport authority suspended all train traffic north of Gävle at 8pm on Christmas Day in preparation.[25] Many trees fell in the storm, bringing down power lines and blocking roads and railways. Approximately 170,000 households were left without power between Uppland and Västerbotten, some for several days. Train traffic came to a standstill in Norrland, however the principal north-south route of the country (European route E4) was quickly cleared.[24] Several weather stations in the Norrland interior experienced their strongest wind gusts in 15 years.[24] Winds of 41 metres per second (92 mph) were recorded on the pylons of the Höga Kusten Bridge.[26] 1.2 million Swedish Kronor of damage was caused in Ljusdal when sixteen rail wagons weighing 313 tons were blown along the railway for 500 metres until they derailed on a road intersection.[27] Some 40,000 homes were still without power around 2pm on December 27.[28]

Finland

Patrick (Tapani) was dubbed the worst storm in Finland in 10 years.[29] Thousands of customers were left without electricity in Southern Finland.[30] The storm was a rare event in Finland and gave the warmest Christmas period in half a century.[31] An old man is reported to have died after being hit by a falling tree.[32][33]

Estonia

Patrick left 100,000 homes without power in Estonia, and triggered 600 rescue operations. Eesti Energia reassigned its customer services personnel to answer emergency calls.[34] Patrick also brought record high temperatures to the country for December.[35][36] Flooding was reported in the streets of major cities.[32][37]

Russia

The Saint Petersburg Dam gates were closed to protect the city, preventing 15 ships from entering the port.[32] The storm tore metal sheeting from roofs and many trees were brought down.[38] Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant was also affected, as algae and mud stirred up by the storm were sucked into the cooling system, resulting in one of the generators being shut down.[39][40]

Aftermath

Deutsche Bank estimated that the price of wood could fall by up to 15%.[41]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Norske ekstremvær får navn" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  2. ↑ "På annandag jul drar årets värsta storm över landet" (in Swedish). hbl.fi. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  3. ↑ "Claims from Windstorm Dagmar in Scandinavia to break $46m". Insurance Insight. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "December 24, 2011 surface analysis". Meteorological Institute. Free University of Berlin. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  5. ↑ "December 25, 2011 surface analysis". Meteorological Institute. Free University of Berlin. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  6. ↑ "December 25, 2011 surface analysis". Met Office. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  7. ↑ "December 26, 2011 surface analysis". Meteorological Institute. Free University of Berlin. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  8. ↑ "December 26, 2011 surface analysis". Met Office. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  9. ↑ "December 27, 2011 surface analysis". Meteorological Institute. Free University of Berlin. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  10. ↑ "December 28, 2011 surface analysis". Meteorological Institute. Free University of Berlin. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  11. ↑ "Sterk orkan- men kraftigare i 1992" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  12. ↑ "Dagmar could be third worst Norwegian storm of last 50 years". insuranceinsider.com. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Record recent storms in Norway cut off several villages and left over 100,000 without electricity.". theforeigner.no. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "Norway storms isolate thousands". theforeigner.no. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  15. ↑ "Evacuees returning after massive landslide". thelocal.no. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Norway: Landslide Forces More Evacuations". sott.net. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "Residents on alert following Norway landslides". icelandpulse.com. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  18. ↑ "Dagmars herjinger" (in Norwegian). Trondheim Havn. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "Product tanker BW Thames nearly fell a victim to raging Dagmar storm". Maritime Bulletin. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  20. ↑ "Storm Dagmar sank Russian trawler". Maritime Bulletin. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  21. ↑ "Krasnoselsk". shipwrecklog.com. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  22. ↑ "Patient died in Norway storm". theforeigner.no. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  23. ↑ "UK gas supplies choppy after North Sea storm". Reuters. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  24. 1 2 3 "December 2011 – Var händelserik med värme, åska och stormar" (in Swedish). SMHI. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  25. ↑ "Christmas storm causes problems for thousands". sr.se. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  26. ↑ "Stormen orsakar stora problem på många håll" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
  27. ↑ "Säkringen höll inte för Dagmar" (in Swedish). Ljusdals-Posten. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  28. ↑ "Sweden struggles with wrath of storm Dagmar". thelocal.se. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  29. ↑ "Värsta stormen på tio år" (in Swedish). HBL.fi. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  30. ↑ "Stormen drar över Nyland" (in Swedish). HBL.fi. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  31. ↑ "Storm on St Stephen's Day was rare". Finnish Meteorological Institute. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  32. 1 2 3 "Cyclone Patrick hits St. Petersburg". ruvr.ru. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  33. ↑ "Nordisk orkan koster liv i Finland" (in Danish). jp.dk. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  34. ↑ "Storm puts Estonian emergency capacity on the brink". balticbusinessnews.com. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  35. ↑ "Patrick Brings Record High Temperatures, Downed Power Lines". err.ee. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  36. ↑ "December 27 Temperature Exceeds Record by Half". err.ee. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  37. ↑ "Eesti Energia: storm in December caused more damages than last year's Monika". baltic-course.com. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  38. ↑ "Elements go wild in St. Petersburg". ruvr.ru. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  39. ↑ "Myrsky sulki generaattorin venäläisvoimalassa" (in Finnish). yle.fi. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  40. ↑ "Generator stängd vid Sosnovij Bor" (in Swedish). hbl.fi. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  41. ↑ "Stormen Dagmar guld för skogsbolag" (in Swedish). affarsvarlden.se. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Storm Dagmar 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.