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WEATHER

Heatwave or storms? What’s the forecast for Switzerland’s long holiday weekend?

With all the outdoor activities planned across Switzerland on Thursday's National Day, you are likely hoping for sunshine and high temperatures. Will you get your wish?

Published: 30 July 2024 15:40 CEST
Heatwave or storms? What's the forecast for Switzerland's long holiday weekend?
Depending on your region, August 1st will be sunny and partially cloudy. Photo: Pixabay

Let’s put it this way: on Thursday, weather will be at its best behaviour — but only in one part of the country.

According to MeteoSwiss, Switzerland’s official meteorological service, it will be partly sunny, dry, and very warm (up to 32C during the day) in the south.

Other regions, however, will experience thunderstorms: more intense ones in the northeast, and slightly less so in the western part. The temperatures will remain high nevertheless, hitting 28 and 29C, respectively.

The same weather is expected to continue throughout Friday: rainy and high 20s in the northeast and west. But the south (31C). will also experience some thunderstorms.

What about the weekend?

Credit: https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/#tab=weekly-forecast

Saturday looks to be mostly sunny and very warm — 26C to 31 C— throughout Switzerland.

On Sunday, it will be windy (but sunny) in the northeastern and western regions, with temps there between  25C and 26C.

Southern Switzerland will be windless and partly sunny and hot (29C.)

From the weather perspective, will it be a ‘normal’ August 1st?

Analysis of the automated measurements of the last 40 years carried out by MeteoSwiss “shows significant regional variation. Mild temperatures and precipitation-free evenings on the national holiday are not guaranteed.”

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WEATHER

Why are there so many weather-related disasters in Switzerland this summer?

From mudslides to flooded hiking trails, several Swiss regions have suffered serious weather-related damage during this year’s summer season.

Published: 14 August 2024 13:40 CEST
Why are there so many weather-related disasters in Switzerland this summer?

In the past weeks, frequent spells of extreme weather claimed lives and caused considerable material damage in several regions of the country.

Among them:

In June, parts of Switzerland, including the canton of Graubünden and the resort of Zermatt in Valais, were hit by huge floods, which claimed the lives of three people and left buildings and roads destroyed.

They were triggered by a violent thunderstorm that unleashed the rivers, causing a rock and mud avalanche in the municipality of Misox.

Additionally, landslide of mud and rubble destroyed a part of the north-south axis of the A13 motorway.

Areas of Valais and Ticino were also among those badly damaged by storms, with three people dead and five missing in the latter canton; the upper Val Maggia remained cut off from the rest of the country and without water and electricity for days.

And just this week, two people were injured in a massive storm in Brienz (canton Bern) and 70 others had to be evacuated from their homes, after the Milibach river overflowed after heavy rains, carrying stones, boulders and wood, which caused a water collector above the village to flow uncontrollably.

Buildings, parked vehicles, roads and public transport infrastructure were damaged.

Also, more than 620 trails –1,300 km in total – had to be closed to hikers due to heavy rains and flooding that hit some regions of the country at the end of June. 

READ ALSO: Hikers in Switzerland warned as hundreds of trails close

Why has this been happening?

“The summer of 2024 has been marked by particularly bad weather,” said meteorologist Felix Blumer. “There is one or two damaging thunderstorms every summer, but this year, there have been lot of them.”

There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon: according to Blumer, most of the summer so far, the weather in Switzerland has been dominated by low pressure areas.

“It is precisely the low pressure situations that are important, with the summer solar radiation, the ground heats up very strongly. The warm, light air can rise, cool down, condense – resulting in showers and thunderstorms.”

In a simple(r) language, low pressure gives way to warm air and rainstorms, which explains the high number of strong and destructive thunderstorms.

Is the weather this summer really more ‘extreme’ than in the past?

According to Thomas Schlegel from Switzerland’s official weather service MeteoSwiss, “due to the extreme events that have occurred so far, 2024 will certainly go down in history as a year with a lot of bad weather and damage.”

He also cited “exceptional” lightning activity during the thunderstorms: over 70,000 lightning strikes were recorded — more than during a typical summer.

In fact, two people who were working in a field in Fribourg during one such lightning episode in July, were struck and injured, along with a police officer and a REGA pilot who came to their rescue. 

What’s ahead, weather-wise?

MeteoSwiss’ eight-day weather forecast predicts more rain and thunderstorms, ranging in severity, in various Swiss regions. 

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