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WEATHER

Have we just seen the last ‘hot’ day of the Swiss summer?

Temperatures hit 30C in much of Switzerland on Wednesday but there is a reasonable chance it won’t happen again for many of us.

Published: 22 August 2018 21:32 CEST
Have we just seen the last ‘hot’ day of the Swiss summer?
A rainbow above the vineyard terraces of Lavaux on the banks of Lake Geneva on August 1st. Photo: AFP

After an extremely long summer, it could be that the magic 30-degree mark, which indicates a “hot” day for meteorologists, will not be reached again in most of Switzerland.

On Wednesday, temperatures hit a toasty 33.1C in Gösgen in the canton of Solothurn, an even 33C degrees in Basel-Binningen, and 31C or 32C in many other locations.

Read also: 16 drown as Swiss summer takes its toll

But Thursday is set to be a tad cooler, at least in the north of the country, while Friday will usher in a distinctly cooler and wetter spell in most areas.

The summer may make a return of sorts next week and “hot” days can be recorded in some locations in late August and even into September.

On the Swiss plateau, however, they occur in September only every five to ten years, weather service Meteonews reported on Wednesday.

The hottest temperature this month to date was 36.2C in Sion on August 5th.

The records for heat set in 2003 look set to stand if current forecasts are anything to go by.

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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