Most severe negative surges on the southern Baltic Sea coast 
45 
5.11. November 1985 
Meteorological situation 
On 5 November, southeasterly to southerly air 
flow prevailed over southern Scandinavia and the 
Baltic Sea along the southwestern edge of an 
anticyclone approaching from the Ukraine. The 
anticyclone slowly retreated northeastward in 
front of a low pressure trough associated with a 
depression over Scotland, which started travel 
ling east at 00 UTC on 5 November, deepening. 
As the anticyclone retreated very slowly, the 
pressure gradient in the advancing trough steep 
ened, particularly in the westernmost part of the 
Baltic Sea. In consequence, the strong south 
easterly to southerly winds in the area increased 
in severity, especially when the occluded front 
crossed the Baltic Sea in the morning of 
6 November, while the depression centre, which 
was below 960 hPa, remained stationary over the 
Sounds and continued to deepen. Behind the 
occlusion, winds of 8-9 Bft, locally 10 Bft, veered 
southwest and west later and continued blowing 
in the Baltic Sea region until the depression 
centre moved to the area of Stockholm late on 
6 November, filling slowly. 
Hydrological response of sea level 
Sea levels were close to the mean values until 
the early hours of 6 November. Under the impact 
of an increasing offshore storm, water levels 
began to fall, rapidly at first as long as the wind 
direction was southerly, then at a slower rate as it 
veered in an alongshore direction. In the night of 
6 November, flat minimum levels remained for 
about 7-9 hours until the wind veered to W-NW 
directions early on 7 November (about 00 UTC in 
the western part, and 03 UTC more to the east). 
Water levels then returned gradually to the mean 
values. The lowest values were recorded 
between 20 and 21 UTC on 6 November: Wismar 
377 cm, Warnemünde 389 cm, Sassnitz 420 cm, 
Swinoujscie 415 cm, and Kotobrzeg 457 cm 
around 00 UTC on 7 November. 
Fig. 5.11. a Route of the depression centre from 5 November 00 UTC to 6 November 18 UTC, 
pressure pattern and wind field over the Baltic Sea on 6 November 1985,12 UTC