This February in Switzerland was the warmest since records began in 1864, with an average temperature of 2.7 degrees, 4.6 degrees above the average recorded for the month over the last 30 years. High temperatures have been driven by strong air currents from the west, said Meteo Swiss.
The next warmest Februarys were recorded quite recently in 2020 (1.6 degrees) and 1990 (2.1).
This year, a high pressure zone over southern Europe has prevented colder polar air moving down as it normally would. One theory to explain this is unusually high sea and ocean temperatures coming out of the summer season.
Adding together average temperatures from December, January and February suggests Switzerland is heading for the warmest winter ever recorded. The average temperature across these three months is 2.8 degrees higher than the norm.
Precipitation has been around 50% higher than the norm so far this winter, but far less of it has fallen in the form of snow, except at very high altitudes.
Many plants are blooming early. The risk is cold weather in March will destroy fresh buds and impact the yields of numerous crops, particularly fruits.
The meteorological evidence of climate change is clear.
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