Switzerland freezes on coldest December day for 20 years

Even this Tinguely sculpture in Basel succumbed to the cold Keystone

An Arctic cold front descended over central Europe on Friday bringing freezing temperatures to the whole of Switzerland.

On the coldest December day in Switzerland for 20 years, overnight temperatures into Friday plummeted to between minus 10 and minus 15 degrees.

The temperature gauge at the top of the Jungfrau railway, at 3,454 metres above sea level, registered minus 30 degrees overnight: the lowest recorded temperature on the Jungfrau since records began. With the wind chill factor, the temperature plummeted to a numbing minus 63 degrees.

Icy conditions caused chaos on Switzerland’s roads, with dozens of accidents reported in canton Zurich alone.

In canton Fribourg, the A1 motorway was closed for four hours on Thursday night, following a massive pile-up, involving 17 vehicles.

Traffic was also badly affected in cantons Lucerne and St Gallen, where local police reported several accidents and long tailbacks.

Strong winds

Strong winds forced a number of flights due to touch down at Zurich Airport to be diverted to Geneva.

“The North wind was too strong and made it impossible for pilots to land their planes,” said Swissair spokesman, Jean-Claude Donzel.

Delays were also reported on the Swiss Federal Railways network, where services were running up to 40 minutes late on Friday. German-speaking Switzerland was worst affected.

The Swiss Weather Centre confirmed on Friday that daytime temperatures would not exceed minus 3 to minus 5 degrees, or minus 15 to 20 with the wind-chill factor.

Officials said the cold snap was likely to last for at least the next few days.

swissinfo with agencies