February storm knocks out power for thousands in northern Sweden

A class-two weather warning (on a scale from one to three) remained in place for north-western Sweden early on Monday morning, with wind speeds of up to 115 km/h in the Lapland mountains.

The wind is expected to subside later on Monday, especially the further east you get, but national weather agency SMHI urged residents to stay up to date with current warnings via www.smhi.se.

More than 6,000 Vattenfall and Eon customers were left without electricity as a result of the storm, named Storm Mats, mainly in the Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Jämtland and Västernorrland regions.

Vattenfall was still working on Monday morning to restore power to more than 1,500 households.

The rest of the country is enjoying relatively mild weather for the time of the year, with temperatures above freezing across most of Sweden on Sunday.

The season of spring (Sweden defines spring as seven consecutive days of average temperatures above 0C) has so far reached the south and the west coast. You can follow its progress here.