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WEATHER

Geneva smashes records with temps nudging 40C

The mercury rose to almost 40C in Geneva on Tuesday, smashing weather records, as other cities in western Switzerland also recorded historic highs on the seventh day of a sizzling heatwave set to give way to thunderstorms and cooler conditions on Wednesday.

Published: 7 July 2015 20:30 CEST
Geneva smashes records with temps nudging 40C
Photo: Lykaestria

The temperature reached 39.7C in Geneva on Tuesday afternoon, the hottest ever recorded in Switzerland north of the Alps, the national weather office MeteoSwiss reported.

It was also the highest registered in Geneva, beating the previous record of 38.9C set in 1921, although it fell short of the all-time record high for Switzerland of 41.5C in Grono, a municipality of the Mesolcina valley in the canton of Graubünden during a heatwave in 2003.

Records fell in other cities in French-speaking Switzerland such as Nyon (38 degrees) and Payerne (37.9C) in the canton of Vaud (38C), Neuchâtel (37.8C), Fribourg (36.6C) and Sion (37.8C) in the canton of Valais.

Bern, the Swiss capital, also posted a new record high of 36.8 degrees, MeteoSwiss said.

“In summary we can say it was the second or third hottest day ever registered in Switzerland,” Frédéric Glassey, of MeteoNews told the ATS news agency.

In Geneva, the heat forced authorities to close the city’s municipal libraries, while its art and history museum shut its doors on the weekend.

The hot weather has also boosted ozone levels, prompting authorities to offer commuters reduced fares for public transit in a bid to encourage motorists to leave their cars at home.

Lakeside beaches and river swimming areas have been inundated with people seeking to beat the heat but at least seven people have drowned in the past week.

The latest incident involved a man who died in Lake Geneva while swimming off the waterfront of the Perle du Lac park, near the World Trade Organization's headquarters.

Cantonal police said the man's body was found about 15 metres from shore and that he died at around 5.30pm.

No other details were immediately available.

The heatwave, which started last Wednesday, has lasted seven days, which is rare for Switzerland.

Blistering hot temperatures were also recorded in other European countries, including Spain and France as warm air pushed north from Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

MeteoSwiss issued level 4 alerts for hot weather (out of a scale of five).

But it switched its warnings to storm alerts for late Tuesday, with a high risk of heavy rain, strong winds and hail extending from Geneva to include the Jura, the western Alps and the Bernese Oberland.

Maximum temperatures are set to fall to between 19C and 27C in western Switzerland, while top temperatures in German-speaking Switzerland are not expected to exceed 24C.

In southern canton of Ticino highs of around 31C are forecast. 

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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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