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WEATHER

28 to 30 degrees: Is this the last weekend of the Swiss summer?

Switzerland will experience temperatures of between 28 and 30 this weekend, followed by a cold snap next week.

Published: 13 August 2021 18:14 CEST
28 to 30 degrees: Is this the last weekend of the Swiss summer?
Image: Shutterstock

Swiss media outlet Watson reports that this may be the last weekend of summer weather before the inevitable march of winter sets in.

The warmth is a welcome change from the thunderstorms that have hit much of Switzerland in recent days.

The temperature from Monday on will drop to 20 degrees in much of the country due to a low pressure system above Denmark.

Showers are expected to sweep across much of the country during next week, other than the south of Switzerland where the weather will remain in the high 20s.

The summer of 2021 has been called the “worst summer of all time” by Swiss media. 

The season has been marked by cool weather and rainstorms, after one of the coldest winters on record. 

UPDATE: How Switzerland’s flood planning helped it avoid disaster

Summer’s glorious farewell

Although it’s hard to predict given climate change-induced wacky weather, August tends to bring with it the last warm days in Switzerland before the autumn chill of September kicks in. 

The average weather for Switzerland in August is just above 15C, with some regional variations. 

In Zurich, temperatures can reach 24C (low of 15C), with 11 days of rain on average in August. 

It’s slightly warmer in Geneva 26C, with a low of 13C and only eight days of rain. 

Basel averages between 15C and 25C, with nine days of rain.

 

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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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