Excessive snowfall in Switzerland caps exceptional year in weather

In the Alps, fresh snowfall of 70 to 90 centimetres fell in the week before Christmas. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The year 2024 ended with changing weather in Switzerland. Two periods of precipitation at the beginning and end of December brought above-average amounts of precipitation, especially in the northern slopes of the Alps and parts of the Jura.

North of the Alps and in the Alps, precipitation fell often from December 2 to 9, with mostly mild conditions at low altitudes, MeteoSwiss reported on Monday. After that, there was plenty of sunshine due to a strong area of high pressure. The air pressure was unusually high in some regions. According to MeteoSwiss, one of the ten highest values for the month of December was recorded at over 30 measurement locations.

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On the southern side of the Alps, there were two very sunny periods from December 1 to 6 and from December 11 to 16. There was no precipitation in some places in the south until December 18.

Above-average amounts of snow

On December 22, the weather turned stormy, said MeteoSwiss. In the Alps, fresh snowfall of 70 to 90 centimetres fell regionally in the week before Christmas. Locally, snowcover even reached over 110cm. On the Jura mountains, the amount of fresh snow reached 50-60cm in some areas. The Gotthard region, the higher regions of canton Valais, parts of the Bernese Oberland and the Jura mountains in particular saw above-average amounts of snow around Christmas.

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At the end of December, there was high fog north of the Alps, which did not dissipate from December 27 to 30.

Overall, Switzerland experienced an extremely warm year. It had the mildest winter on record and some very wet months. The average annual temperature in 2024 across the country was 1.4 degrees above the 1991 standard from 2020.

Translated from German with DeepL/gw

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