Winter arrived early in Switzerland this year - already in the third week of November - covering much of the country in snow.
No doubt many people were hoping that this weather would last until Christmas.
However, the snow soon melted and below-zero temperatures climbed into (positive) double digits. Weather in much of the country felt more like early spring than winter.
According to meteorologist Klaus Marquardt from MeteoNews weather service, this mild weather "will probably continue until a week before Christmas."
What happens after that is still unclear because the forecasts don't extend that far.
"Time is gradually running out for snow in the lowlands,” Marquardt said. “Nevertheless, the chances aren't zero yet.”
Let it snow
If you want to be sure of having a white Christmas, your chances are best in the Swiss Alps.
Generally speaking, the higher the altitude, the greater the chances of snow in December.
Even when temperatures are mild in the lowlands in the winter, snow line is usually above 1,000 -1,500 metres above sea level.
This means you can expect plenty of snow (and a very white Christmas) in high-altitude resorts, which are typically located in Valais, Graubünden and the Bernese Oberland.
They include Crans-Montana (1,500 m), Zermatt (1,620), Saas-Fe (1,800), Arosa (1,775), and St. Moritz (1,850), among literally hundreds of famous as well as little-know mountain resorts.
And if it is cold enough for the snow line to drop even lower (though not all the way to the lowlands), you can likely have a white Christmas even in medium-altitude resorts.
Fairytale Christmases of yore: fact or nostalgia?
Older people sometimes recall that winters (and Christmases) of their youth were invariably snowy, and lakes were always frozen solid, enough to allow ice skating.
That may have been true during some winters in certain Swiss regions, but rarely was there sustained snowfall at low altitudes.
According to Switzerland’s official meteorological service MeteoSwiss, snow was rare at low altitudes even before we became aware of the ravages of global warming.
“Green Christmases are actually more common than white ones on the Swiss Plateau,” MeteoSwiss notes. “For instance, there was no snow at Christmas in 60 percent of the observed years from 1931 onwards in the central and eastern Swiss lowlands. In western and northwestern Switzerland, the number was even higher, with a green Christmas in 75 percent of the years."
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