No more January spring
Cold front brings winter back to us
There hasn’t been a trace of winter since the holidays. But that is now changing. It will be cold next week. Winter is back – including snow.
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There’s a cold front on the way to Switzerland.
Marian NadlerEditor News
Next week it’s time to dress warmly. The winter is back. No more mild temperatures, it will be cold from Tuesday.
“In the lowlands we are talking about temperatures in the range of just below or slightly above zero degrees,” says Geraldine Zollinger (26) from Meteo News to Blick. It is not only white in the mountains. The snow is coming next week.
The reason for the winter comeback: While high pressure areas with warm air masses reached us from the southwest in January, there is now a low pressure situation. Cold air masses come into Switzerland from the north-west.
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100 km/h wind speed in the mountains
The first foothills of the cold front will reach us on Friday. First of all, the wind howls in our ears. At times it can also rain. Above 2000 meters there is already a lot of fresh snow. Half a meter is within the realm of possibility, the majority will come down on Saturday evening.
“Before the white splendor returns, it will be windy on Sunday in the lowlands and stormy in high, exposed locations, for example on the northern slope of the Alps,” Zollinger continues. In the lowlands there are maximum gusts of 50 to 70 km/h, and a little more in very exposed locations. Up to 100 km/h can be reached on the mountains. Attention: The combination of stormy wind and fresh snow increases the risk of avalanches.
Ski season is saved
According to the weather expert, the snow line is 1800 meters on Friday. After that, it decreases bit by bit. On Sunday evening the snow line is already between 600 and 800 meters. Before that, Sunday will be characterized by heavy rain showers and temperatures will drop.
A particularly large amount of snow will fall in the cantons of Bern, Graubünden, Glarus and Valais in the coming week. Between Friday and Sunday evening there is already between 20 and 50 cm of snow.
In any case, the winter seems to have been saved in the mountains, says Zollinger’s colleague Klaus Marquardt. The Swiss ski areas were already celebrating a lot of fresh snow on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially in Glarnerland, in the Bernese Oberland and in parts of Valais. The lack of snow had caused them massive problems in the past few weeks.
January is still too warm for the weather people at Meteo News. “To break the trend, it would have to be cold for the rest of the month. That is rather unlikely », explains Zollinger.