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‘Siberia of Switzerland’ too warm for cold festival

Around 1,500 people attended the annual Fête du Froid (cold festival) in La Brévine on Saturday, despite the fact that the relatively mild weather caused many of its planned attractions to be cancelled.

Published: 6 February 2017 11:56 CET
‘Siberia of Switzerland’ too warm for cold festival
Photo: The Local
The cold festival, now in its sixth year, celebrates the area’s reputation as the chilliest place in Switzerland, after it registered a record low of -41.8C in 1987. 
 
Due to its specific microclimate this so-called ‘Siberia of Switzerland’ regularly records extremely low temperatures in winter and has already reached -29.9C this year. 
 
However on Saturday the weather wasn’t playing ball. 
 
With temperatures at around 1-2 degrees and a distinct lack of snow, festival organizers were forced to cancel several planned attractions, reported news agencies, including dog sled rides, cross-country ski and snowshoe initiations and a snow sculpture activity which was replaced by wood carving. 
 
Nevertheless, visitors still packed out the restaurants, according to organizer Vincent Matthey – if only to shelter from the strong winds that battered the area during the afternoon.
 
It’s the second year in a row that the village has not lived up to its Siberian reputation on the day of the festival. Last year the mercury registered a spring-like nine degrees. 

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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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