Spring is warmer and wetter than ever
Published: Thursday, May 30th 2024, 15:40
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Spring in Switzerland was significantly warmer and wetter than average. In the east of Switzerland, it was around three degrees too warm in places. A large part of the excess heat north of the Alps resulted from the warm March.
The highest temperature from March to May was measured in Basel at the beginning of April at 28.8 degrees, SRF Meteo reported on Thursday. According to MeteoSwiss, the national average spring temperature rose by 0.8 degrees above the norm.
Despite the warm spring temperatures, the three spring months recorded fewer hours of sunshine than usual, according to SRF Meteo. In Locarno TI, the sun shone 90 hours less than the average and a whopping 230 hours less than in 2020 and 2021. In Geneva, there were even 300 fewer hours of sunshine compared to 2020 and 2022.
Above-average precipitation fell in most areas of Switzerland from March to May, according to MeteoSwiss. Frequent southerly föhn winds repeatedly caused rain south of the Alps.
Around 770 millimetres of rain fell in Locarno, which is 70 percent more than the average, wrote SRF Meteo. It was only wetter in 1983 and 1986 with over 950 millimetres of rain. Precipitation levels in the Rhone Valley and the Bern region were also above the long-term average.
According to SRF Meteo, the weather will continue to be unsettled and rainy. There is a considerable risk of rain in eastern Switzerland. In central Switzerland and parts of the Bernese Oberland as well as south-eastern Switzerland, there is a moderate risk, as MeteoSwiss reported on X.
©Keystone/SDA
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