Warmest winter since records began – February out of control
Published: Wednesday, Feb 28th 2024, 14:50
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The meteorological winter of 2023/24, which ended in February, was too warm and too wet. It was the warmest winter since records began. The main reason for this was a February that went off the rails with record warmth.
On the southern side of the Alps in particular, the warmest February since measurements began in 1864 beat all previous records, as reported by the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) on Wednesday. The warmest days there were 10 to 13 degrees above the 1991 to 2020 norm. The month that used to be called "Horner" because of the bitter cold turned out to be a mild March.
With a national average temperature of 2.7 degrees, the month was 4.6 degrees above the 1991 to 2020 norm. This is the second-highest deviation from the norm since measurements began in 1864. Only in June 2003 was the deviation greater at 4.7 degrees.
Record warm winter
As the meteorological winter comes to an end in February, SRF Meteo, the weather service of Swiss radio and television, and MeteoSwiss have already taken stock. According to MeteoSwiss, the winter ending on Thursday will go down in history as the warmest since measurements began.
Before February, December and January were extremely mild. December temperatures were 2 degrees above normal and January temperatures were 1.6 degrees above normal. The average winter temperature was 0.9 degrees, 2.8 degrees above the norm. Compared to the pre-industrial reference period from 1871 to 1900, the winter warmed by 2.9 degrees.
Records fall
However, it was not consistently warm. Temperatures did rise to record highs for several days, as SRF Meteo reported. Before Christmas, there was a very warm phase on the southern side of the Alps with a northerly foehn. December 23 was the warmest December day ever recorded in the Magadino plain, Locarno and Stabio. High values were also recorded in places in the north in the week before Christmas.
A warm phase from January 22 to mid-February led to new monthly records on January 24 in Disentis GR, Zermatt VS and Grächen VS. One day later, Neuchâtel and Wynau BE measured the warmest January day.
There were also cold spells. At the beginning of December, it snowed as far as the lowlands. On December 3, the mercury at Zurich Airport was minus 14.1 degrees. On January 20 and 21, temperatures in Thun and Aadorf TG were 15 degrees below zero. The lowest temperature on the Ofen Pass was minus 28 degrees, which was also the lowest temperature this winter.
Lots of snow in the mountains
Almost nationwide, there was more precipitation than usual in winter. In St. Gallen it was 80 percent more than usual, in Zurich and Bern 50 percent. This was very pronounced in December: SRF Meteo reported monthly records in the western foothills of the Alps, in Elm GL and partly in Graubünden.
There was 17 centimetres of snow at Zurich Airport on 2 December. Nevertheless, it was green at lower altitudes at Christmas. At the beginning of January, it snowed again in the lowlands. Some snow did not fall again until the end of February.
In the mountains, however, the winter was snowy. In mid-December, the snow cover reached seasonal highs on the Weissfluhjoch (2500 m above sea level).
With the exception of north-eastern Switzerland, there was no fog and the sun shone more than average. However, there were fewer hours of sunshine in the mountains due to the changeable weather, and the values in Ticino were also below the norm.
©Keystone/SDA
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