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Weather: Thunderstorms predicted for central and southern Switzerland on Monday afternoon

After a few days of sunny and dry weather, heavy rains and hail storms have resumed in Swiss regions over the weekend. This is what the situation is right now and what is expected for the coming days.

Published: 26 July 2021 10:29 CEST
Weather: Thunderstorms predicted for central and southern Switzerland on Monday afternoon
30,000 lightning bolts hit Switzerland over the weekend. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini / AFP

Swiss federal weather forecasters have predicted heavy storms for much of central and southern Switzerland from Monday lunchtime onwards. 

Forecasters have predicted a severity of 3 out of a possible 4. The strongest storms are predicted from 1pm to 6pm. 

The following tweet shows where the heaviest storms are forecast. 

Thunderstorms and heavy rains raged across Switzerland, and about 30,000 lightning bolts hit overnight from Saturday to Sunday.

Some areas, including central Switzerland and Ticino, were particularly impacted, flooding basements, blocking roads, and disrupting rail traffic. However, no one was hurt.

In Appenzell, over 33.2 millimeters of rain fell in 10 minutes on Saturday evening — the largest accumulations of precipitation ever measured in such a short time in Switzerland.

In Appenzell Ausserrhoden, large hail stones were dumped on several localities.

READ MORE: Floods: Why was Switzerland impacted less severely than Germany?

What is the forecast for this week?

“We have survived the worst for now,” said Stefan Scherrer, meteorologist at MeteoNews.

After Monday’s storms, individual showers or thunderstorms may continue sporadically for the remainder of the week, “but they will not be severe”.

For the next few days, Scherrer predicts changeable weather.

The sun will peek through the clouds occasionally, interspersing with rain thunderstorms, he said.

Overall, the situation is not expected to be as dire as it had been in the past 10 days, with Swiss lakes and rivers swelling, bursting their banks and flooding nearby areas.

The level of lakes and rivers has fallen to near-normal or normal levels.

READ MORE: Weather update: Lake Zurich bursts banks, Lucerne preparing for flooding

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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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