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Switzerland freezes in coldest night of winter so far

Thursday night to Friday morning in Switzerland was the coldest night of winter to date, with temperatures dropping to nearly minus 30 degrees in some parts of the country, said MeteoNews on Friday.

Published: 6 January 2017 09:10 CET
Switzerland freezes in coldest night of winter so far
The village of La Brevine holds the record for Switzerland's lowest temperature. Photo: Caroline Bishop
The commune of La Brévine, a village in the Jura mountains near Neuchâtel, was the coldest in the country early on Friday morning, reaching a low of -29.9C. 
 
Thanks to its unusual microclimate La Brévine is regularly the coldest place in Switzerland and holds the record for the lowest ever temperature, of -41.8C, reached in January 1987.
 
Last night this so-called ‘Siberia of Switzerland’, which sits at just 1,050m, was even colder than the Jungfraujoch – Switzerland’s highest railway station – which, despite being at 3,580m, was five degrees warmer, at -24C. 
 
 

 
On the Swiss lowlands, under 800m altitude, the village of Welshenrohr in the canton of Solothurn was the coldest, at -18.4C. 
 
The cities also felt the chill, with Zurich airport recording -13.3C and Freiburg -12.1C. 
 
After a long dry spell in December, Switzerland saw its first snowfall of the year across German-speaking parts earlier this week, with flurries also reaching the Lake Geneva region on Thursday. 
 
However the country will be mostly dry, bright and cold on Friday, with temperatures below freezing in many parts. 
 
The low temperatures will persist over the weekend.
 
Switzerland’s top five coldest places on January 6th (according to MeteoNews): 
 
La Brévine (1,050m) -29.9C   
 
Corvatsch (3,315m) -26.9C
 
Jungfraujoch (3,580m) -24C
 
Buffalora/Ofenpass (1,970m) -24C
 
Titlis (3,040m) -23.8C
 
 
The big chill is expected to last through the weekend. Source: MeteoSuisse

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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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