Storm Dave fails to impress as residents report calm conditions

Residents in western Norway’s Karmøy municipality say storm Dave has so far brought little more than mild winds, despite extreme weather warnings and widespread travel disruptions, Dagbladet reports.

Elisabeth Flø, a resident of Kopervik on Karmøy, told the newspaper she had expected far worse by Sunday afternoon. “It’s nearly 2 PM, and we thought things would get bad by now,” she said. “A neighbour is out walking in a T-shirt—it’s hardly dramatic.”

The Meteorological Institute had issued a red-level extreme weather alert for the area from 11 AM to 6 PM on Easter Sunday, prompting ferries and flights to cancel services and authorities to urge people to stay indoors. Flø noted that while she and others had secured loose objects and prepared for high winds, conditions remained unusually calm.

“We almost hoped for a bit more weather, just to make the effort feel worth it,” she said. Many in the region had cut short their Easter holidays to avoid predicted chaos, she added, with some facing long queues as they rushed to return home early.

Flø, originally from Sunnmøre, said she had left her holiday destination at 4 AM to avoid traffic. “The roads there were actually scarier than here,” she admitted. “As a Sunnmøre native, I expected more.” While she acknowledged the wind had picked up slightly by mid-afternoon, she described it as “nothing extreme—yet.”