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Cold and snow signal end to Indian summer

After a summery weekend with temperatures as high as 24 degrees, parts of Switzerland experienced an early taste of winter on Wednesday with snow falling at levels as low as 600 metres in some areas.

Published: 22 October 2014 11:57 CEST
Cold and snow signal end to Indian summer
Webcam view of La Tzoumaz in the 4 Vallรฉes resort area in the canton of Valais on Wednesday. Photo: Televerbier.ch

MeteoNews said snowfall could reach as much as 30 centimetres in some locations.

In the canton of Uri, unprepared motorists remained blocked on the road in the Alps between Gösechen and Andermatt on Wednesday morning because of snow.

Cantonal police said traffic was halted because some cars were not equipped with snow tires, according to a report from 20 Minuten newspaper.

In Graubünden, where the forecast highs for many parts of the canton in eastern Switzerland were zero, snow was forecast through the day.

In the town of Leysin in the Vaud Alps motorists struggled to deal with up to 12 centimetres of snow.

Webcams at Verbier, where temperatures dipped overnight to minus five degrees, showed snow falling on the Valais mountain resort on Wednesday morning and at surrounding areas in the 4 Vallées region.

The white stuff is not expected to last for long, however.

Forecasts from MeteoSwiss, the national weather office indicate temperatures will rise to more seasonal levels by the end of the week.
 

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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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