The past weekend, Sweden was struck by the storm named Malik. Friday the 28th of January warnings were issued by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI, for winds up to 35 meters per second in south and central Sweden. “Storm” occurs at a wind speed of 24,5 – 32,6 meters per second. That´s wind strength 10 – 11 according to the Beaufort scale. Above that, it´s called a “Hurricane”. 
Malik – a stormy weekend
What can one do when such a warning is issued? Hold on to something steady, secure loose items in the garden, and stay indoors. Malik started roaring Saturday afternoon/evening and went on until lunchtime on Sunday.
Here in the south of Sweden we had two severe storms in 2005 and 2007. The one in 2005, named Gudrun (or Erwin) felled 75 million cubic meters, almost one annual felling in Sweden, in less than 24 hours. The storm in 2007 was named Per and felled 12 million cubic meters in about the same area as the Gudrun storm. Both took place in January.
Could Malek measure up with Gudrun and Per?
No, it wasn´t even close, even though Malek went on for a longer time than both the historical storms. Today, Monday 31st of January no estimations of felled volumes in Sweden have been presented. According to discussions and comments in media and at forums like Skogsforum.se it seems that we were lucky this time. As comparison, 38 000 households temporary lost their electricity during Malek this weekend, and 450 000 during Gudrun in 2005.
Furthermore, no one was killed due to the storm the past weekend. A couple of roof tops left their buildings, a construction crane fell, roads and railroads were blocked by falling trees, ferry departures and flights were canceled, no (or very few) trains were operating, and some bridges were closed, like the one between Sweden and Denmark.
So, we were lucky this time.
Photos: Per Jonsson
