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Sweden braces for wrath of 'tropical hurricane'

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TT/The Local/pvs - [email protected]
Sweden braces for wrath of 'tropical hurricane'

The remnants of Hurricane Katia is set to reach Sweden's west coast on Monday evening carrying heavy rain and strong winds.

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Swedish meteorological institute SMHI has issued a class 1 warning – the agency's lowest warning level on a three-level scale – for western Sweden, warning of winds of up to 86 kilometres/hour.

The warning for strong winds covers Västra Götaland, Bohuslän, Dalsland and Värmland. The agency has furthermore warned of gales in Lake Vänern, the Skagerrak, Kattegatt and Öresund, as well as the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia.

During Tuesday Katia, which has been classified as a low pressure front, will push further up through Norrland.

Katia, a Class 1-hurricane on a five-point scale, eased off in force as it swept the north Atlantic and passed by the British Isles.

Tropical cyclones heading for Sweden are not quite as unusual as they might sound.

"Actually, it happens every now and then. But they rarely arrive as fully-fledged hurricanes. They usually die out pretty quickly when they reach the colder waters of the north Atlantic," explained Emil Björck at Swedish meteorological institute SMHI in a statement at the weekend.

After last week's hurricane Irene, Katia is the eleventh named Atlantic storm this season.

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