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Scorchio! Late August heat breaks record in Geneva

Switzerland basked in a heatwave on Thursday, with parts of the country experiencing record temperatures for the time of year.

Published: 26 August 2016 09:07 CEST
Scorchio! Late August heat breaks record in Geneva
Lake Geneva on Thursday. Photo: The Local

Geneva reached 33.3 degrees, the first time the canton has ever exceeded 33 degrees in the final week of August, said news agencies citing MeteoNews.

And some regions sweated through a tropical night on the night of Thursday to Friday, defined as a night in which temperatures do not drop below 20 degrees.

St. Chrischona in the canton of Basel-City recorded the highest night-time temperature, of 22.9 degrees, while several places in French-speaking Switzerland, including Vevey, Lausanne and Le Bouveret, also experienced tropical conditions, according to MeteoNews.

The canton of Valais raised its forest fire threat level to four out of five on Thursday, meaning there is a โ€˜strongโ€™ risk of fires in the area, authorities said in a statement.

With hot weather continuing to Sunday, people are being advised to only light barbecues and open fires in designated areas and to always keep watch over the fire.

But for the moment, there is no ban on campfires, unlike in 2015 when a ban was in place for six weeks over the summer.

The heat is expected to last until Sunday, after which time some storms and rain will lower temperatures slightly into next week.

Source: Meteo Suisse

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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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