Cyclone Dagmar
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Cyclone Dagmar (also referred to as Cyclone Tapani in Finland) and as Cyclone Patrick by the Free University of Berlin) was a powerful
European windstorm European windstorms are powerful extratropical cyclones which form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure. They can occur throughout the year, but are most frequent between October and March, with peak intensit ...
which swept over
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
on
Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...
2011, causing severe damage in central coastal areas, before continuing over the Scandinavian peninsula towards the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
and
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
. The storm caused $45 million (2011 USD) in damage.


Meteorological history

Patrick formed as a small low just south of
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
on 24 December. The system raced across the north Atlantic, deepening rapidly to by Christmas Day. Patricks extraordinary windspeed was due to it being a secondary low to the deep cyclone Oliver to the north and the powerful high Cora to the south, enhancing the southwesterly winds on the south side of the low. On 26 December, Patrick made landfall in western Norway with a central pressure of . The storm continued to move eastwards at a rapid pace, however, as it was overland it had weakened significantly. 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 The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
's tracking charts the next day.


Impact


Norway

Patrick (Dagmar) arrived in Norway as a southwesterly storm, with windspeeds estimated to be on average on the coast. Up to 10 minute sustained winds was measured at Kråkenes Lighthouse, Sogn og Fjordane, before the anometer broke. Powerful winds occurred in
Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...
,
Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is the ...
and
Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...
during the night of 24 December and early morning of 25 December. Extreme high storm surge in Finnmark estimated to be 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 Patrick (Dagmar) is believed to be the third strongest storm to hit Norway in 50 years. 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. The pier area of Trondheim was badly damaged during the storm, heavily damaging the façade of the Pirbadet water park. A F2
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
was reported in
Hellesylt Hellesylt is a small village in Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village lies at the head of the Sunnylvsfjorden, which is a branch of the Storfjorden (Sunnmøre), Storfjorden, and which the more famous Geirangerfjord ...
, Norway. The Tanker BW Thames was disabled and adrift northwest of
Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
as the storm approached, however the crew were able to regain power and survived the storm without incident. The Russian trawler Krasnoselsk sank in Hundeidvika harbour,
Sykkylven Sykkylven is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Aure. Other villages in the municipality include Ikornnes, Straumgjerde, and Tusvik. The municipa ...
, Norway. Dagmar knocked out 390
Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
communication masts leaving 40,000 customers without mobile or landline telephone connections.
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
'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 The Langeled pipeline (originally known as Britpipe) is an underwater gas pipeline transporting Norwegian natural gas to the United Kingdom. Before the completion of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, it was the longest subsea pipeline in the world. ...
.


Sweden

Storm Dagmar mostly affected Southern
Norrland Norrland (, "Northland", originally ''Norrlanden'' or "the Northlands") is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administr ...
and northern
Svealand Svealand (), or Swealand, is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south central Sweden and is one of three historical lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tiveden, Tyl ...
. The Swedish transport authority suspended all train traffic north of
Gävle Gävle () is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland (Swede ...
at 20:00 on Christmas Day in preparation. 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 Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...
and
Västerbotten Västerbotten (), known in English as West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in the north of Sweden, bordering Ångermanland, Lapland, North Bothnia, and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is known for the cheese named after the provi ...
, some for several days. Train traffic came to a standstill in Norrland, however the principal north–south route of the country (
European route E4 European route E4 passes from north to south through Sweden from the border with Finland, with a total length of . The Finnish part lies entirely within Tornio in northern Finland, and is only long. The Swedish part traverses most of Sweden ex ...
) was quickly cleared. Several weather stations in the Norrland interior experienced their strongest wind gusts in 15 years. Winds of were recorded on the pylons of the Höga Kusten Bridge. 1.2 million Swedish Kronor of damage was caused in
Ljusdal Ljusdal () is a locality and the seat of Ljusdal Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 6,230 inhabitants in 2010. Ljusdal is situated on Riksväg 83 which runs between Tönnebro in Söderhamn Municipality in Gävleborg County and ...
when sixteen rail wagons weighing were blown along the railway for until they derailed on a road intersection. Some 40,000 homes were still without power around 14:00 on 27 December.


Finland

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


Estonia

Patrick left 100,000 homes without power in Estonia, and triggered 600 rescue operations.
Eesti Energia Eesti Energia AS is a public limited energy company in Estonia with its headquarters in Tallinn. It is the world's biggest oil shale to energy company. The company was founded in 1939. As of 2014, it operates in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Fi ...
reassigned its customer services personnel to answer emergency calls. Patrick also brought record high temperatures to the country for December. Flooding was reported in the streets of major cities.


Russia

The
Saint Petersburg Dam The Saint Petersburg Flood Prevention Facility Complex ( rus, Ко́мплекс защи́тных сооруже́ний Санкт-Петербу́рга от наводне́ний, kómpleks zashchítnykh sooruzhéniy Sankt-Peterbúrga ot ...
gates were closed to protect the city, preventing 15 ships from entering the port. The storm tore metal sheeting from roofs and many trees were brought down.
Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant (russian: Ленинградская атомная электростанция; Ленинградская АЭС ''Leningradskaya atomnaya elektrostantsiya; Leningradskaya AES'' ()) is a nuclear power plant loca ...
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.


Aftermath

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


See also

* List of European windstorms *
Cyclone Xaver Cyclone Xaver (or Storm Xaver), also known as the North Sea flood or tidal surge of 2013, was a winter storm that affected northern Europe. Force 12 winds and heavy snowfall were predicted along the storm's path, and there were warnings of a s ...
*
Cyclone Ulli Cyclone Ulli (also named Cyclone Emil by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute) was an intense European windstorm. Forming on December 31, 2011 off the coast of New Jersey, Ulli began a rapid strengthening phase on January 2 as it sped ...


References


External links

*
Gallery of damage in Romsdal (in Norwegian)
*
Gallery of damage in Trondheim (in Norwegian)
*
Air Worldwide Event Summary:Extratropical Cyclone Dagmar
*

{{European windstorms Dagmar 2011 meteorology 2011 in Finland 2011 in Norway 2011 in Sweden December 2011 events in Europe 2011 disasters in Europe