Weather service warns of waves up to 3 meters high in Gulf of Finland
The Environmental Agency's (Keskkonnaagentuur) weather service has forecast strong winds on Sunday, which could lead to high waves both on the Baltic and on the freshwater Peipsi järv.
According to the forecast, wave heights in the Gulf of Finland, which separates Estonia and Finland, may reach up to three meters.
A weather report issued Saturday afternoon stated that Estonia will be on the eastern edge of an active low-pressure system approaching from southern Norway.
As a result, the weather will be cloudy, with occasional rain and sleet and strong winds.
The Weather Service forecasts southwesterly, southerly, and southeasterly winds on Sunday, reaching speeds of 5-10 meters per second, with gusts up to 15 meters per second.
On the coasts, meanwhile, the winds could reach 10-15 meters per second in speed, and gusts can be as strong as 22 meters per second.
The winds are expected to weaken slightly toward Saturday evening.
Wave heights are forecast to reach two to four meters in the northern Baltic Sea during the night, and early morning on Sunday.
In the Gulf of Finland, wave heights are predicted to range from 1.5 to 3 meters.
The waves in the more sheltered waters off the west of Estonia will not be quite as big. Those in the Väinameri strait, between Hiiumaa, Vormsi, Muhu, Saaremaa and the mainland, waves are forecast to reach 0.8-1.6 meters, while in the Gulf of Riga to the South, waves can be 1.5-2.5 meters in height.
On Saturday night into Sunday morning, wave heights in Peipsi järv will range from 0.8-1.6 meters overnight and up to 1.3 meters during the daytime Sunday.
In October last year, the "LainePoiss" ("Wave boy") SmartBuoy operated by the Tallinn University of Technology's (TalTech) Marine Systems Institute recorded a record wave height for the Gulf of Finland of 5.78 meters.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
