Storming Scandinavia

Cyclone Dagmar map

December 26, 2011: Cyclone Dagmar makes landfall. The storm was also called Cyclone Patrick by the Free University of Berlin, which is the semi-official source for all of the European Union. However, in Norway, it was called Dagmar and in Finland, it was called Tapani. Whatever its name, it formed rapidly when cold air moved south from Greenland and Arctic Norway and met with warm air moving north from the Azores and Iberia. The northward movement was facilitated by a swiftly moving jet stream. Moving almost due east, the storm came ashore in Norway on this day with wind gusts reaching up to 145 mph. The storm was listed as the third worst in Norway in the last fifty years.

Strong winds preceded actual landfall and a storm surge of 20 to 30 inches was also noted. Some of this rise in water level was due to a preceding storm, Cato (Oliver). As the front moved in and the whirling winds came over land, they dropped a significant amount of rain. Due to both the winds and the rain, a January 1, 2012 landslide in Trondheim was also attributed to this storm. No one was killed in the landslide, but fifty people were evacuated. The pier area of Trondheim suffered much damage as well. As hurricanes or cyclones often do, an F2 tornado was spawned and that was reported in Hellesylt, Norway.

Also damaged in the storm were 390 Telenor communication masts. This left 40,000 customers without cell phone or landline telephone connectivity. A tanker was disabled and set adrift northwest of Bergen. Luckily, the crew was able to restore power and they were able to ride out the storm without further incident. The Royal Dutch Shell’s Ormen Lange gas processing plant was not so lucky. It lost power and was unable to supply gas until power was restored. This did not only affect Norway, but the company supplies 20% of the UK’s gas.

After making landfall, the storm began to lose power. However, before it could completely dissipate, it also wreaked havoc in Sweden by dropping many trees which took down power lines. Some train traffic was completely stopped. The storm reached Finland and was their worst storm in ten years. Electricity was lost for thousands of customers. Trees not only took out power lines, but there was a report of an elderly man being killed by a falling tree. Estonia also lost power and had to rescue over 600 people as a result of the storm. In Russia, the St. Petersburg Dam gates were closed to protect the city. That action left 15 ships unable to enter the port. One of Russia’s nuclear plants needed to shut down a generator after dirty water was sucked into the works. Over $45 million (US dollars) damage was done overall.

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain. – Vivian Greene

He turned to look just in time to see the rain start falling out as if the storm had finally decided to weep with shame for what it had done to them. – James Dashner

It takes a real storm in the average person’s life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls. – Bruce Barton

If you are strong enough, you can enjoy even in the middle of a storm! – Mehmet Murat ildan

Also on this day:

Kwanzaa – In 1966 the first Kwanzaa was celebrated.
Searching – In 1986, Search for Tomorrow went off the air after more than 35 years.
Zounds! Sounds! – In 1933, a patent was granted for FM radio.