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WEATHER

Could this be Switzerland’s hottest ever summer?

Summer 2017 in Switzerland is on course to be among the hottest – if not THE hottest – on record, according to meteorologists.

Published: 17 July 2017 13:25 CEST
Could this be Switzerland's hottest ever summer?
File photo: vencav/Depositphotos
As summer reaches the halfway point, the average temperature so far is four degrees warmer than the norm, SRF Meteo has said. 
 
In recent weeks Switzerland has experienced very hot and sunny weather, interspersed with dramatic storms bringing torrential rain. 
 
Temperatures have been significantly hotter than usual.
 
Normally the southern canton of Valais has by this point had 26 days where the mercury has reached 25 degrees or above. However this summer it has already had 35 days, said SRF Meteo. 
 
The weather station at Sion, in the Valais, has recorded 17 days above 30 degrees – classed as a heatwave – ten more than the average of seven heatwave days.
 
Generally across Switzerland the sun shone for more days in June and early July than usual, it added. 
 
 
June was the second hottest month since records began in 1864, said MeteoSuisse in its June bulletin, with the national average temperature surpassing the norm by 3.3 degrees.
 
Even if temperatures go down in the coming weeks, summer 2017 will still be one of the hottest ever.
 
However with more warm, sunny weather predicted for at least the next two weeks, it’s possible that this year’s summer could surpass even the hot years of 2003 and 2015.
 
“We can’t exclude the possibility that this summer will take first place following the conditions in late July and August,” MeteoSuisse meteorologist Marianne Giroud told news agencies.
 
Temperatures are expected to rise above 30 degrees again in the next few days, with some rain and storms likely towards the end of the week.
 
The warm weather continues this week. Source: MeteoSuisse

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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