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Wind storm sweeps through Swiss Alps

The Local
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Wind storm sweeps through Swiss Alps
Titlis mountain lift — closed for maintenance. Photo: Switzerland Tourism

Hurricane-force winds swept through the Swiss Alps early on Tuesday registering as high as 187 kilometres per hour in the canton of Obwalden, weather services reported.

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This wind speed was recorded at Titlis, a 3,238-metre mountain in the Uri Alps, Meteo Group and SRF Meteo said in news releases.

The high winds are due to a Foehn storm that began battering higher elevations late on Monday.

There were no reports of substantial damage.

Titlis is home to Europe’s highest suspension bridge, a 500-metre-long foot bridge at 3,041 metres above sea level, 500 metres above the ground.

Even if you wanted to experience the storm winds there you couldn’t do it because operators closed lifts on the mountain on Monday until November 14th for annual maintenance work.

Elsewhere, winds were clocked overnight at 167 km/h in Melchsee-Frutt, also in Obwalden, and at 165 km/h in Gütsch/Andermatt in the canton of Uri.

Gusts of up to 150 km/h were recorded in Brülisau, at an elevation of 922 metres, in the canton of Appenzell Innerhoden.

In French-speaking Switzerland, the mountain village of Les Diablerets in the Vaud Alps registered winds of 145 km/h, the ATS news agency reported.

The storm conditions are expected to peter out later Tuesday, while heavy precipitation is forecast south of the Alps and snow above the 1,600-metre level, the agency said.

The tempest brought to an end Indian summer conditions experienced in much of Switzerland over the weekend. 

SEE ALSO: Violent storms hit south-eastern France

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