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Weather alert: Heavy snow forecast to hit in Switzerland

Much of Switzerland will experience significant snowfall, which could trigger avalanches in the mountains, forecasters say.

Published: 12 January 2021 09:37 CET
Weather alert: Heavy snow forecast to hit in Switzerland
Heavy snow is expected in Switzerland this week. Photo by AFP

On Tuesday January 12th, up to 15 centimetres of fresh snow is expected to fall on parts of the country, the federal meteorological service MeteoSwiss said.

 

The service is issuing a Level 3 weather alert for the Western Jura, the Swiss-Romand Plateau, and the Vaud Prealps.

The hazard categories are numbered 1 to 5, with 5 being the most severe one.

Then, between Tuesday noon and Thursday evening, humid polar air, accompanied by strong winds, is expected to dump 80 to 110 centimetres of snow on the northern slope of the Alps and in Valais above 1,000 metres.

The heavy snowfall could “significantly increase” the risk of avalanches in all regions of Switzerland, according to Swiss Avalanche Bulletin. 

The snow follows closely what MeteoSwiss qualified as the coldest weather of the current winter season so far — on January 9th, the temperature  dropped to -30.7 degrees in Glattalp in canton Schwyz.
 

READ MORE: EXPLAINED: What are the Covid-19 rules for skiing in Switzerland this winter? 

 

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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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