Early, surprise winter of 2012 catches many Swiss unprepared
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland had a wintry interlude but autumn is expected to return in the next couple days, according to Meteo Swiss, the national weather service. Sunday morning 28 October showed a landscape of snow from the peaks down to the plains.
Records were broken for lowest temperatures for the date in several areas: -9.3C at La Dôle (record, -8.5), -12,3C at Pilatus (record, -10.7) and at Säntis -15C (record, -13.9C) and at the Grand St Bernard pass it dipped to -13.9C.
Grazing on snowy grass leaves its traces (Valais, Switzerland)
The Zurich area, as well as Bern and Lausanne, all had 3 to 10cm of snow. Egginer, near Saas Fee, had the heaviest snowfall, 40cm, but several mountain areas had 10-35cm.
And the wind blew hard, with Geneva having gusts up to 88 kph. It reached 107 kph at Diablerets, in canton Vaud.
The reminder that winter is on its way was a temporary one, however, with the cold north wind bise ending in the early hours of Monday, and temperatures rising slowly during the week.
By mid-week, winds from the west will bring back more typical autumn weather.
