Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
A special thought goes out today to pupils – young and old – and teachers who have to work in sweltering classrooms across Switzerland as the new term begins. Classrooms with glass windows and no air conditioning are probably the last place you want to be on a day like today.
Special “heatwave days off” used to apply in certain German-speaking cantons (Zurich, Aargau, Basel Country and Basel City) up until the 1980s whenever the temperature exceeded 21°C at 8.30am and humidity was above 70%. But they were stopped. No cantons are considering them right now despite the current frequency of heatwaves.
Let’s take a look at today’s news stories:
In the news: zero-degree limit record, palm oil, air traffic picks up and a Swiss ChatGPT.
- On Monday, indigenous delegates from Malaysia and the Bruno Manser Fundpresented a petition for mandatory declaration of palm oil in non-food products. Some 12,000 signatures have been deposited with the Federal Chancellery.
- The heatwave in Europe has pushed the zero-degree limit – the altitude at which the temperature dips into the minus – to a record height of 5,298 metres in Switzerland. This new record was set on the sweltering night of August 20-21, the Federal Office for Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) said on Monday.
- The main airports in Switzerland showed a sharp increase in passenger traffic between April and the end of June. However, it remains below the levels before the coronavirus pandemic.
- Swiss start-up AlpineAI announced on Monday the launch of SwissGPT. This Swiss version of the ChatGPT text generator aims to counter the American and Chinese presence in this field and serve local companies more effectively.
Exceptional heatwave envelops Switzerland
The current heatwave in Switzerland is likely to continue until Friday, according to MeteoSwiss.
Switzerland has been experiencing sweltering hot weather over the past week. MeteoSwiss recorded temperatures above 35°C on Sunday afternoon. The mercury even exceeded 36°C at the end of the afternoon in Sion (VS) (36.2°C) and Geneva (36.1°C). In Payerne (VD), Mathod (VD), Evionnaz (VS) and Mühleberg (BE), 35°C or more were recorded.
The national weather service forecasts a maximum temperature of 34°C on Monday.
From Saturday until Wednesday, the whole of the country has been classified as level 3 heatwave danger below 800 metres altitude (on a scale of 1-5). In canton Ticino – and since Sunday also around Lake Geneva – the danger level is 4, which means a high risk of circulatory disorders and physical discomfort.
According to meteorologists, the duration of the Swiss heatwave is exceptional: six to eight hot days in a row. A typical August during the years 1991 to 2020 saw three to six days with temperatures above 30°C. The heatwave in 2003 was an exception with 12 to 18 consecutive days in August, depending on the region. But even then, most of the hot days were in the first half of August.
Cooler weather should appear from Thursday. And the risk of thunderstorms will probably increase from Friday onwards.
Swiss defence minister gets grilled over Ruag and Leopard tanks
Swiss Defence Minister Viola Amherd faced a parliamentary committee hearing on Monday over her roles in the “Ruag affair” – the sudden resignation of CEO Brigitte Beck earlier this month – and an attempt to sell 96 old Leopard tanks stored in Italy to the German arms group Rheinmetall.
Parliament’s Security Policy Committee is keen to know why Ruag CEO Brigitte Beck resigned on August 13, and was Amherd aware of Ruag’s wish to sell 96 old Leopard tanks stored in Italy to Rheinmetall. Did Amherd want to defy the Swiss ban on re-exporting weapons? The issue of tanks that could be sent to Ukraine is extremely delicate against the backdrop of the war, Swiss neutrality and its arms export policy.
The Swiss defence minister has so far refused to discuss these issues.
“We are going to talk about Ruag; we are going to talk about the strategic directions which are given by the Federal Council for this arms company linked to the federal authorities. I hope it will be a frank conversation,” centre-right Radical parliamentarianFrançois Pointet toldExternal link Swiss public TV, RTS, on Sunday.
Amherd, who regularly ranks in opinion polls as the most popular cabinet minister, and her ministry are in the spotlight for other defence issues. Last week, it was reported that there could be a delay in the delivery of new F-35 fighter jets to Switzerland. If the F-35s do not arrive on time, Switzerland would have to extend the lifespan of its existing F/A-18 jets and patch them up. This could be very expensive for Swiss taxpayers.
There is also the question of Swiss participation in the European air defence system Sky Shield. In June Amherd signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany and Austria to participate in Sky Shield but did not warn parliament.
The outcome of Monday’s meeting was unclear at the time of publication of this briefing.
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