Weather service trends predict a green Christmas
Published: Friday, Dec 13th 2024, 13:40
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According to the weather services, a white Christmas is rather unlikely in the lowlands this year. This is in line with previous measurements. Since 1931, 60 percent of Christmases in the lowlands have been green.
The outlook for the lowlands is only moderately promising. At the end of the week, the website of the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) stated that there were signs of a westerly-dominated current bringing mild Atlantic air to the continent. According to forecasts, there are therefore "signals for excessively mild temperatures in the days leading up to Christmas" in large parts of Europe.
The weather service Meteonews expects the same, as it announced on Friday. It is certain that after a milder and often sunny phase, especially in the mountains, it will become cooler from next Friday with a north-westerly to westerly direction, especially at higher altitudes. However, it is "absolutely unclear" exactly how the weather will develop before and on Christmas.
Little hope
Some weather models are expecting a high-altitude trough to pass over us shortly before Christmas, followed by a northerly situation over Christmas, which could cause the snow line to drop to low altitudes. However, it is more likely that it will not be so cold that there will be enough snow at low altitudes.
The conclusion: whether it will snow at all and whether the snow will stay there is still completely open. However, there is still some hope of a white Christmas at low altitudes due to the wide forecast horizon, according to Meteonews.
The trend towards a rather green Christmas in the Swiss lowlands fits in with the climatological evaluations, the weather services wrote about their evaluations. In the central and eastern Central Plateau, 60 percent of Christmases since 1931 have been green, according to MeteoSwiss. In western Switzerland and the lowlands on the southern side of the Alps, 75 and 80 percent of Christmases were green respectively.
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