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WEATHER

Switzerland braces for coldest temperatures in six years

If you think it’s been bitterly cold this week, well, you haven’t seen anything yet: next week temperatures are expected to plunge across the country in a rare cold snap set to be the chilliest since February 2012.

Published: 23 February 2018 09:21 CET
Switzerland braces for coldest temperatures in six years
Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
Temperatures will remain below -5 degrees during the day and below -10 at night, MeteoNews said in a press release. At above 1,500m altitude that will drop to -15 degrees.
 
The cold spell will start on Sunday when arctic air will start to reach Switzerland from Russia. 
 
That will be compounded by a strong bise wind (30-50km/hr on average), which could cause temperatures to feel more like -20 degrees with windchill, even in low-lying areas, said MeteoSuisse.
 
The bise could also turn spray on the lakeshores to ice, potentially causing the sort of dramatic pictures last seen in 2012, when a similarly cold period with a bise wind created ice sculptures on the shores of Lake Geneva. 
 
In 2012 a bise wind and frigid temperatures caused scenes like these. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
 
However next week’s chill is unlikely to rival 2012’s in duration. Back then the intense cold lasted for two weeks and included three distinct periods of bise; next week’s cold snap is expected to last for five days with only one episode of bise.
 
Though the country is already rather chilly, with temperatures hovering around zero degrees over the past couple of days and a bise wind, the current weather is simply standard for winter, unlike next week’s exceptional cold, said meteorologists. 
 
The news comes after January was announced as the warmest on record in some low-lying parts of the country. 
 
The higher temperatures were a consequence of frequent storms coming from the west and south-west which prevented cold air from stagnating on the Swiss plains, which is what normally happens in winter. 
 
However it was a different story at altitude, where temperatures were about normal for the month of January and copious snow fell across the Swiss Alps, causing some villages to be cut off.
 
Source: MeteoSuisse

WEATHER

Will Switzerland be visited by ‘Ice Saints’ this year?

Ascension is not the only annual happening in the country in May, as Switzerland also ‘celebrates’ another 'chilling' event this month.

Published: 8 May 2024 14:20 CEST
Will Switzerland be visited by 'Ice Saints' this year?

From May 11th to the 15th, a meteorological event takes place each year in Switzerland.

It “observes”, though admittedly not on scientific basis, a centuries-old weather phenomenon called “Ice Saints”.

What exactly is it?

As its name suggests, it is related to saints, as well as ice and frost.

The saints in question are St Mamertus, St Pancras, St Servatius and St Boniface.

According to a weather lore, once these Ice Saints have passed through Switzerland in the middle of May, frost will no longer pose a threat to farmers and their land.

As the official government meteorological service MeteoSwiss explains it, “spring frosts have been a regular occurrence for centuries, giving rise to the traditional belief that a blast of cold air often arrives in the middle of May. Over time, this piece of weather lore became known as the Ice Saints.”

Fact versus myth

You may be wondering whether the Ice Saints lore actually has basis in reality.

Records, which date back to 1965 and originate from the Geneva-Cointrin, Payerne, and Zurich-Kloten weather stations, “clearly show that, over the long-term average, frost directly above the soil is only a regular occurrence up until the middle of April”, MeteoSwiss says. “After that, the frequency with which ground frost occurs progressively declines to almost zero by the end of May.”

“We can conclude, therefore, that there is no evidence in Switzerland to confirm the Ice Saints as a period in May when ground frost is more common.”

However, MeteoSwiss does concede that “ground frost is nevertheless a regular occurrence throughout May as a whole…having occurred at least once or twice in May every year, and in around 40 percent of the years there were more than two days in May with ground frost.”

What about this year?

MeteoSwiss weather forecast for the next seven days indicates that, this year too, no frost will be present on the ground in mid-May.

In fact, temperatures through much of Switzerland will be in double digits, reaching between 18C and 25C, depending on the region.

You can see what to expect in your area, here. 

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