Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

WEATHER

Northern Switzerland records ‘latest summer day ever’

The thermometer climbed over the 30C-mark in the Swiss city of Chur on Friday making it the latest 'hot' day ever recorded north of the Alps in Switzerland.

Published: 21 September 2018 21:24 CEST
Northern Switzerland records 'latest summer day ever’
Boats beside a jetty on the dried out bed of Lac Brenet in the Swiss canton of Vaud on September 20th. Photo: AFP

The summer of 2018 is the gift that keeps on giving.

On Friday, temperatures in Chur, the capital of Graubüden, hit the magic 30-degree mark, which indicates a 'hot' day for meteorologists.

Read also: IN PICTURES – 12 photos that will get you excited about autumn in Switzerland

That is the latest date this has ever happened in the part of Switzerland that lies north of the Alps and two days later than the previous record for northern Switzerland set in 1947 when 30C was seen on September 19th.

South of the Alps, the latest ever ‘hot’ day ever was on September 25th in 1983.

But the forecast for coming days suggests autumn may finally be on the way with distinctly cooler temperatures coming up for much of the country, especially from Monday on.

Image: MeteoSuisse

The new season will likely come as a shock after five months in a row of warmer than usual weather. 

August 2018 was the third warmest on record but a long way short of the hot temperatures seen in the legendary ‘once-in-a-century’ summer of 2018.

But while the good weather has been welcomed by many, it has also led to drought conditions in certain areas.

There has also been a high number of drownings while experts fear 2018 could see a new record for the number of deaths in the Swiss mountains after the good conditions saw more people heading to the Alps.

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.

READ ALSO:

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.

SHOW COMMENTS