A wide area of precipitation will reach Latvia from the south overnight on Wednesday, bringing persistent snow and sleet across the country, gradually turning to rain. Snow cover will form in most parts of the country, in places as much as 5-9cm thick, according to the Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre.
On Wednesday, at the beginning of the day, there will still be a slow to moderate easterly, south-easterly wind, but from the morning the wind will start to pick up and gradually turn from the south and south-east, gusting up to 15-19 m/s, and already exceeding 20 m/s along the coast.
On Thursday, the wind will turn from the south-west and west, but remain gusty throughout the country, with the strongest gusts still expected near the coast.
Temperatures will be in the range of 0…+6 degrees on both Wednesday and Thursday.
The cyclone’s influence will diminish slightly on Friday and over the weekend. Although precipitation (mainly snow and sleet) is still expected intermittently over most of the country, its intensity will decrease significantly. Winds will be gusty on some days as atmospheric pressure changes more rapidly. A colder air mass will flow into Latvia, causing the weather to turn colder – in many parts of the country, temperatures will drop back below 0 degrees during the dark part of the day, i.e. the air will cool down to 0…-5 degrees, but during the day it will not get colder than -2…+3 degrees.
The current forecast indicates that an active cyclone will approach our area again on Sunday, bringing with it not only a new area of precipitation, but also gusty winds.