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The weather situation at the accident site has been exaggerated mainly by the media, but also from rumors among people, believing that "of course, there must have been a storm, the ship sank". We have all heard and read that Estonia sank in stormy weather, and also with wind around 25 m/s. The fact is that the storm came first in the morning the 28:th, and that the center of the storm was more towards the west, at Bogskär. The weather was rough but far from extreme or storm.

Shown in the table below, the wind observations during the night. The wind in the area between Utö and Ristna where Estonia sank, was mean 15 m/s. In the early morning at 05.00 it was mean 18 m/s up to max 29 m/s at Ristna, but at Utö it was still mean 15 m/s.

One shall remember that 15 m/s is rough weather, specially for people not used to the sea. Most passengers aboard this type of ferry are not specially used to rough weather. People in a ferry like this get seasick on open water already with wind around 10 - 15 m/s, and believe there is a storm.



Wind observations (from the JAIC final report, table 5.3).
Day/
time
Söder-
arm
Svenska
Högarna
Bog-
skär
Utö Rus-
sarö
Ristna
27/9
1700
hours
SW
09 mean
12 max.
SW
12 mean
14 max
SW
13 mean
14 max
SW
09 mean
-
WSW
09 mean
-
SW
08 mean
12 max
27/9
2000
hours
SW
11 mean
13 max
SSW
14 mean
16 max
S
14 mean
17 max
SSW
13 mean
-
SW
08 mean
-
SSW
08 mean
14 max
27/9
2300
hours
S
13 mean
17 max
SW
16 mean
18 max
SW
17 mean
18 max
SW
15 mean
-
S
16 mean
-
WSW
16 mean
21 max
28/9
0200
hours
SW
14 mean
15 max
W
17 mean
18 max
SW
20 mean
21 max
SW
15 mean
-
SW
12 mean
-
WSW
15 mean
22 max
28/9
0500
hours
W
20 mean
20 max
WNW
24 mean
24 max
W
19 mean
22 max
WSW
15 mean
-
WSW
12 mean
-
W
18 mean
29 max
28/9
0800
hours
WNW
17 mean
20 max
WNW
18 mean
25 max
WNW
21 mean
24 max
WNW
13 mean
-
WNW
09 mean
-
W
17 mean
26 max
28/9
1100
hours
WNW
12 mean
17 max
WNW
14 mean
18 max
-
-
-
W
15 mean
-
WNW
11 mean
-
W
12 mean
-



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