Stormy weather in 2008

This year, and so far, the storms have not been as powerful as Gudrun and Per. But they have damaged forests and it is much work to do for the forest owners, taking care of wind-felled trees before the summer. The Swedish Forest Agency looks seriously upon the following problem with insect damages. Some estimates show that between 1 and 3 million cubic metres of standing trees can be killed by the beetle Ips typographus during 2008.

Now, it is our turn to establish new forests after these two major storms. Hopefully we have learnt a great deal from disasters as Gudrun and Per, and that they have left us better prepared to deal with similar events in the future. We know that they will come, and probably more frequently in January or February each year.