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Spring breaks out in much of Switzerland

Spring-like conditions have settled into Switzerland with temperatures on Tuesday reaching up to 22.5 degrees in Geneva and Sion, the capital of the canton of Valais.

Published: 18 March 2014 21:04 CET
Spring breaks out in much of Switzerland
Photo: Lykaestria

Restaurant terraces did a brisk business as patrons took advantage of the warmer than average weather to soak in the sunshine.

MeteoNews reported highs climbed above 20 degrees in numerous cities north of the Alps under blue skies, including Basel, Zurich, Aarau and Schaffhausen.

This came a day after it hit 27 degrees in Lugano in the southern canton of Ticino, the second highest temperature ever recorded in that city in March.

On Monday, the mercury also rose to 26 degrees in Locarno, another city in Ticino.

The mildest weather so far this year is forecast to cool down a few degrees on Wednesday before warming up again on Thursday and Friday.

MeteoNews said while no records were broken for the month of March, it has never been so warm on March 18th in Geneva and Sion since the introduction of weather stations in the two cities.

Meteo Swiss recently announced that the 2013-14 winter was the third warmest recorded in the past 150 years, with average temperatures three degrees higher than normal.

The sunny week is forecast to come to an end on Saturday, however, when high temperatures are expected to fall by 10 degrees with grey skies and rain predicted, along with snow in the Alps.

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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.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
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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