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WEATHER

Swiss fruit growers defy dodgy spring weather

Despite capricious weather Swiss fruit growers benefits from a better than average overall summer harvest, Schweizer Obsterband, the Swiss fruit association said on Thursday.

Swiss fruit growers defy dodgy spring weather
Photo: Schweizer Obsterband/flickr

The season was marked by cool and wet conditions in the spring, persisting into mid-June, leading to harvests that were two weeks later than normal in all areas of the country, the association said.

But hot temperatures in the summer led to a bumper crop of strawberries and other berries, which exceeded the average from the past four years, the fruit growers organization said.

The record harvest of strawberries of close to 7,000 tonnes was 250 tonnes ahead of the previous year, while the volume of plums rose more than 50 percent to 3,321 tonnes. the group said.

Raspberries (1,219 tonnes), blackberries (394 tonnes), blueberries (308 tonnes) and gooseberries (307 tonnes) all hit higher than average returns.

More apricots (4,389 tonnes) and cherries (1,644 tonnes) were picked than last year but the volumes were lower than three years ago.

The cool spring adversely affected the cherry harvest, Schweizer Osterband said.

The favorite fruit for Swiss residents — apples — are still being harvested, with some varieties, such as Braeburn, still to be picked until November.

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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

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Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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