200-hour solar deficit in the first half of 2024
Published: Sunday, Jul 7th 2024, 15:40
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In the first half of 2024, it rained far too often and too much in Switzerland. At the same time, there were fewer hours of sunshine than average, as reported by Radio SRF on Sunday.
In most places in Switzerland, the sun has been shining around 200 hours less than usual since the beginning of the year. This corresponds to a sun deficit of around 20 percent.
The last time there was even less sunshine in most places in the north was eight and eleven years ago. In the south, however, you have to go back much further to find a year with fewer hours of sunshine. According to SRF Meteo, the last time fewer hours of sunshine were recorded in Lugano than in the first half of 2024 was in 1986. In Chur GR, you even have to go back to 1983.
Up to 60 percent more precipitation
The situation is similar to the sunshine deficit when it comes to the precipitation surplus. The first half of 2024 was too wet in almost all of Switzerland. However, the excess precipitation was particularly pronounced in eastern and southern Switzerland, where 40 to 60 percent more precipitation fell than usual in the first half of the year.
Precipitation also fell more often than average. In Braunwald, for example, it rained or snowed on 96 days in the first half of 2024 - in other words, on more than every second day. According to SRF, there was an average of 82 days of precipitation in Braunwald during the same period. A precipitation day is a day on which it rained at least one millimeter.
In Zurich, there have already been 80 days of precipitation. The long-term average there is 65, and there were also far more rainy days than usual in Switzerland's sunniest city. In Lugano, there were 72 instead of 48.
©Keystone/SDA
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