No “golden October”: too mild, too wet and too cloudy
Published: Tuesday, Oct 29th 2024, 13:00
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Switzerland can kiss the "golden October" goodbye in 2024. The past month was clearly too wet, too cloudy and, thanks to the second half, also too mild. The excess heat was 1.8 degrees on Monday. October is in the top ten of the warmest Octobers.
In the end, October is likely to be the sixth or seventh warmest tenth month of the year since measurements began in 1864, according to the weather service Meteonews on Tuesday. This makes October the sixth month this year with a temperature surplus of over 1.5 degrees.
However, it is a far cry from the top performer, October 2022, with an excess of 3.7 degrees. There were no frost days in October 2024, meaning that foliage coloration and leaf fall were delayed compared to the average.
Although temperatures were mild, there was a significant deficit in sunshine duration in October 2024. Compared to the climate average from 1991 to 2020, it amounted to around 40 percent. According to Meteonews, this is likely to decrease slightly by the end of the month.
Precipitation, on the other hand, was abundant. By the middle of the month, Meteonews had recorded a 100 percent surplus. However, the dry second half pushed this down to 30 percent across the country.
In the south, however, the abundance of rain increased between October 22 and 25 due to a congestion situation. In Lugano TI, for example, 81 percent more rain fell than the average. In total, it rained on ten days or more throughout Switzerland, according to the report.
©Keystone/SDA
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