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Latest summer day recorded since measurements began

Woman sits in a water trough
Cooling down on Alp Juchs in Chur. This photo was taken during the heatwave in August © Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller

The mercury hit 25.4°C in Chur, in eastern Switzerland, on Sunday – the latest day ever recorded in the country with a summer temperature of more than 25°C.

The MeteoNews weather service said this was due to warm air brought to the Alpine region by a south-westerly current. In addition, a southerly foehn wind in the Rhine Valley drove temperatures up.

High temperatures were also recorded at other locations in the Rhine Valley on Sunday, including 22.7°C at the St Chrischona measuring station near Basel.

On Saturday MeteoSwiss, the federal office of meteorology and climatology, reported that this October would go down as the warmest October since measurements began. It said the average temperatures in Switzerland were around 3.8°C warmer than average.

October was the month during which global warming was most noticeable, Stefan Brönnimann, a climatologist at the University of Bern, said on the Tagesschau new programme.

MeteoNews expected temperatures to drop somewhat in the coming days. It said more summer days were not in sight, but it would remain exceptionally mild for the time of year.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR