Very strong wind is likely to blow over the South-western part of the country on Saturday afternoon as a well-marked low pressure, created over the southern Bothnian Sea, intensified further, said the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) in a release on Thursday. The strong wind will particularly affect the maritime areas and disrupt the post-Christmas return traffic along the west coast. According to the forecast issued by the FMI, the low-pressure will intensify further and move towards the northern part of the country. As a result, winds will strengthen to storm especially over western and southwestern sea areas. At sea, average wind speeds may locally reach around 25 meters per second. At the same time, wave heights in the southern Bothnian Sea may exceed seven meters. The storm is forecast to peak on Saturday evening, after which winds will gradually weaken, with strong winds remaining only over southern sea areas by Sunday morning. On land, the strongest winds are expected over Åland and along the western and southwestern coasts, where wind gusts may locally exceed 20 meters to 25 meters per second on Saturday afternoon and evening. In Lapland, conditions will also be gusty in many places, with gusts in the fells reaching up to 30 meters per second. FMI meteorologist Ville Siiskonen said that in western part of the country, the strong wind will continue from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning while in Lapland the strongest wind blow by midnight.