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WEATHER

Winds bring tropical warmth to Swiss regions

Parts of Switzerland experienced tropical temperatures on Tuesday night with mercury readings exceeding 26 degrees, thanks to a warm Föhn wind.

Published: 23 October 2013 09:22 CEST
Winds bring tropical warmth to Swiss regions
Föhn winds of Geneva. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The unusual phenomenon struck central and eastern regions of the country as the wind, carrying warm air from the southwest blew through the plateau and mountain valleys, meteorologists said.

Records for the third week of October were set in in Heerbrugg in the canton of Saint Gallen, where it reached 26.7 degrees, according to MeteoNews.

All-time highs were also recorded in Quinten, also in the canton of Saint Gallen (26.6 degrees), and at Saint Maurice in the canton of Valais (25.4 degrees), MeteoNews said.

Temperatures rose to 26.3 degrees in Vaduz, the capital of neighbouring Liechtenstein, and also surpassed 25 degrees in Rorschach in the canton of Saint Gallen and Flüelen in the canton of Uri, as well as the cantons of Schwyz and Glaris.

Winds were clocked at speeds of up to 105 kilometres an hour on Lake Constance.

SRF Méteo reported that a high of 25.3 degrees was reported at 2am Wednesday at the Altenrhein airport in Saint Gallen.

The winds were expected to subside later in the morning.

Föhn conditions periodically hit Switzerland and other parts of central Europe, warming the climate as moist winds off the Mediterranean Sea blow over the Alps.

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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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