On Thursday, the wind did not reach the strength of the storm, but the damage was the biggest in 4 years / Article / LSM.lv

On Thursday, the wind did not reach the strength of the storm, but there was more damage than in the stronger winds.

According to the international Beaufort scale, a storm is a wind with an average speed of 21 meters per second (m / s) in ten minutes, but on Thursday the highest average wind speed was in Ventspils – 19 m / s, in Riga 11-13 m / s, according to Information from the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Center.

The gusts were stronger – in Ventspils 25 m / s, in the port of Riga 25-26 m / s, in the city center 23 m / s, in the rest of the country mostly 14-21 m / s.

Rescuers had to go to more than 320 calls to prevent wind damage, including most – a little over 300 were in and around Riga. This is more than this year’s 12th-13th. March, when a stronger wind blew in Latvia. In the port of Liepaja, the average wind speed reached 22 m / s, but gusts – 34 m / s. At that time, the wind was blowing from the west, which usually affects the area around the capital more gently than the northwest winds, which were blowing this time.

The determining factor for the relatively large damage is the leaves of the trees, which were not present in March. Foliage increases the surface area that the wind pushes, creating a greater load on the trees.

The number of calls to the State Fire and Rescue Service was the largest since June 2016.

Due to northwest winds, water levels rose in a large part of the coast, flooding the coast and estuaries of rivers flowing into the sea. In March, when the strong wind blew from the west, the rise in water level in Riga and Jūrmala is smaller than when the northwest wind blows.

The meteorological services in our region were able to predict the strong winds caused by this cyclone very early.

In Finland, where the storm was strongest on Thursday (gusts of up to 35 m / s), the local meteorological service had already issued a red warning four days earlier. In Latvia, the first forecasts for the expected storm were made on Sunday, but an official warning was issued on Tuesday.

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