Cyclone Patrick

Cyclone Dagmar

Storm Dagmar over Scandinavia 26 December 2011
Type	European windstorm, Extratropical cyclone
Formed	24 December 2011
Dissipated	27 December 2011
Damage	$45 million (2011 USD)
Total fatalities	2
Areas affected	Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Russia

Cyclone Dagmar (also referred to as Cyclone Tapani in Finland) and, officially, as Cyclone Patrick by the Free University of Berlin) was a powerful European windstorm which swept over Norway on Christmas Day 2011, causing severe damage in central coastal areas, before continuing over the Scandinavian peninsula towards the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland. The storm caused $45 million (2011 USD) in damage.

Patrick formed as a weak low just south of Newfoundland on 24 December. The system moved across the north Atlantic, deepening rapidly to 971 mb (28.7 inHg) by Christmas Day. On 26 December, Patrick made landfall in western Norway with a central pressure of 964 mb (28.5 inHg). 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's tracking charts the next day.

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 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 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. The Russian trawler Krasnoselsk sank in Hundeidvika harbour, Sykkylven, Norway. Dagmar knocked out 390 Telenor communication masts leaving 40,000 customers without mobile or landline telephone connections.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.