Exceptional snowfall affects traffic in Switzerland
Published: Saturday, Dec 2nd 2023, 18:40
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Persistent snowfall caused traffic problems in many places in Switzerland on Saturday. In many places, falling trees disrupted rail and road traffic. According to MeteoSwiss, the snowfall in eastern Switzerland was exceptional for December.
According to the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss), Saturday's snowfall at the measuring stations in Zurich-Fluntern, Elm GL and Chur even set records for the first third of December. In Zurich-Fluntern 26 centimetres were recorded, in Elm 48 and in Chur 28. St. Gallen missed the record of 31 centimetres by just one centimetre.
According to MeteoSwiss, the combination of a southerly high-altitude current of moist Mediterranean air with colder polar air coming from the north was responsible for the heavy snowfall. This resulted in up to 70 centimetres of snow in central Grisons and half a meter elsewhere. In the rest of the Alps, it was 20 to 40 centimetres.
But snow also fell in the lowlands - up to 25 centimetres in the east. This led to difficult conditions on the roads and railways. The Zurich-Munich railroad line was interrupted on Saturday afternoon between St. Margrethen SG and Munich. SBB recommended that travelers in the direction of Stuttgart travel via Basel. It snowed particularly heavily in and around Munich on Saturday.
On Saturday evening, various Rhaetian Railway lines in Graubünden were partially interrupted or only partially accessible, as the company announced in the evening. Replacement services were not possible everywhere.
In the Bern and Lucerne regions, falling trees interrupted regional rail services in three places. The Bern-Schwarzenburg and Belp-Thun S-Bahn lines and the Langnau i. E. BE-Lucerne line near Wolhusen LU were affected. These disruptions were resolved in the course of Saturday afternoon, according to SBB's Railinfo rail information service.
Cancelled flights in Zurich-Kloten
At least 15 centimetres of snow were also measured at Zurich-Kloten Airport. This led to more than 40 flights being canceled. For example, Swiss flights to Berlin and Munich, which was particularly affected by the snow, were canceled. Flights to Brussels and London were also canceled, according to the airport website.
Airport media spokeswoman Elena Stern said on request that the winter service had been busy clearing the snow all night on Saturday. There were also delays as aircraft had to be de-iced. Zurich Airport advised travelers to inform themselves about the situation.
Swiss media spokesman Kavin Ampalam also recommended this. When asked, he said that 3600 Swiss passengers were affected by the 40 canceled Swiss flights. They would be contacted personally. Swiss will do everything in its power to rebook them on alternative flights. Swiss expects the situation to return to normal once the snowfall is over.
However, it cannot be ruled out that there will also be individual delays and possibly even cancellations on Sunday.
Tree on A6 between Bern and Biel
There have been around 120 accidents on snow-covered roads in the cantons of Bern and Zurich alone since Friday morning, according to reports from the two cantonal police forces on Saturday morning. The Bern cantonal police registered 60 reports of trees falling on the road.
On Saturday afternoon, for example, a tree fell on the A6 highway between Bern and Biel near Münchenbuchsee BE, as reported by the TCS.
©Keystone/SDA
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