40 
Negative Surges in the Southern Baltic Sea 
March 1969 
5.8. January 1979 
Meteorological situation 
Early on 6 January, a cyclonic centre formed 
southwest of the Faroe Islands on a cold front in 
the rear of a low pressure trough. This young 
centre moved rapidly northeast and reached the 
northern part of the Norwegian Sea at about 
12 UTC on 7 January, while the trough moved 
eastward. The occluded front lay over Scandina 
via as the warm front had reached the entrance 
to the southern basins of the Baltic Sea. Winds 
preceding the warm front - in the eastern part of 
the trough - increased over the whole Baltic Sea 
and developed into a southwesterly storm of 
7-9 Bft as the whole depression deepened. 
Along the southern coasts, however, the passage 
of the warm front was accompanied by backing 
winds and a temporary decrease of wind speed. 
Towards evening, the passage of the cold front 
again brought an increase in wind speed, and 
after about 20 UTC the storm veered west, then 
west-northwest, in an onshore direction. 
Hydrological response of sea level 
In the early hours of 6 January, water levels 
began to sink slowly at first, accelerating in the 
early hours of 7 January under the impact of the 
strengthening southwesterly storm. When winds 
decreased between 9 and 13 UTC and backed 
somewhat (Fig. 5.8. a) in the warm frontal zone, 
also the rate of sea level decrease slowed down, 
but it increased again before the passage of the 
cold front. Between 20 and 23 UTC, the offshore 
winds veered in the rear of the cold front, and 
levels began to rise slowly. Values of about 
480 cm were reached as late as about 20 UTC on 
8 January. 
The recorded minima were 372 cm in Wismar 
and Warnemünde at about 18 UTC on 7 January; 
394 cm in Sassnitz at 22 UTC, 410 cm in 
Swinoujscie, and 403 cm in Kotobrzeg, both at 
about 17 UTC on 7 January.