Swiss spring was third hottest on record
The Local - [email protected]
Published: 31 May, 2017 CET.
Updated: Wed 31 May 2017 10:43 CET
Switzerland has experienced its third warmest spring since records began in 1864, meteorologists have said.
The average temperature for the whole country was 1.7 degrees warmer than the norm for 1981-2010, according to MeteoSuisse.
Only the springs of 2007 and 2011 were hotter.
That was in part because March was particularly warm, surpassing the norm by 3.3 degrees.
April and May were also warmer than normal for the time of year, but to a lesser extent.
That’s despite a swing to the other extreme in late April, when a cold snap brought ground temperatures right down to near record levels. In Vierge in the Valais the mercury plummeted to -5.5 degrees on April 20th, a record low for the area at that time of year.
The resulting frosts proved disastrous for fruit orchards and vines, which had started to flower during the earlier warmth and suffered catastrophic damage during the cold snap.
Generally this spring was sunny and dry, with a higher percentage of sunshine and less rain than the norm.
Summer weather arrived in late May, with Switzerland experiencing its first ‘tropical’ night (meaning nighttime temperatures above 20 degrees) in the canton of Ticino on May 24th.
A few days later a mini heatwave saw daytime temperatures shoot up across the country, with some parts surpassing the 30-degree mark.
The news follows the trend of warmer weather and less precipitation in recent years.
Last year was one of the ten warmest on record in Switzerland, and December was the driest for 150 years.
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The average temperature for the whole country was 1.7 degrees warmer than the norm for 1981-2010, according to MeteoSuisse.
Only the springs of 2007 and 2011 were hotter.
That was in part because March was particularly warm, surpassing the norm by 3.3 degrees.
April and May were also warmer than normal for the time of year, but to a lesser extent.
That’s despite a swing to the other extreme in late April, when a cold snap brought ground temperatures right down to near record levels. In Vierge in the Valais the mercury plummeted to -5.5 degrees on April 20th, a record low for the area at that time of year.
The resulting frosts proved disastrous for fruit orchards and vines, which had started to flower during the earlier warmth and suffered catastrophic damage during the cold snap.
Generally this spring was sunny and dry, with a higher percentage of sunshine and less rain than the norm.
Summer weather arrived in late May, with Switzerland experiencing its first ‘tropical’ night (meaning nighttime temperatures above 20 degrees) in the canton of Ticino on May 24th.
A few days later a mini heatwave saw daytime temperatures shoot up across the country, with some parts surpassing the 30-degree mark.
The news follows the trend of warmer weather and less precipitation in recent years.
Last year was one of the ten warmest on record in Switzerland, and December was the driest for 150 years.
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