Jura, daffodils April 2010 (photo, Shirley Curran)
The temperatures in Switzerland have been warming up for the past week, but the national weather service, MeteoSwiss, says the level of precipitation has been unusually low.
The first real spring day, defined as the temperature going above 25C, was Sunday 25 April in Sion. The snow in the Jura near Geneva is rapidly disappearing, giving way to meadows of daffodils and other bright flowers.
Weather forecast, Jura and Alps reports, Easter weekend traffic information
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Snowline in Valais, near Leukebad
Fresh snow above Aminona, Valais 31 March 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The long Easter weekend is starting and school holidays in Switzerland are well underway: expect traffic jams on the road but a good mix of vacation options once you’re off the road.
Weather forecast
Highs ranging from 9-11C in the Lake Geneva region this weekend, with some rain Saturday, sunshine alternating with overcast skies Sunday. The weather should become more springlike by Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 16C and sunshine. (MeteoSwiss)
Road traffic forecast
Snowbikes, World Cup races, good snow in the Jura
Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The season is winding down, but there is still plenty of good snow around. And with the Geneva Motor Show pulling in thousands of visitors, the slopes might be less crowded. The big news this weekend is World Cup Skiing, with the women competing in Crans-Montana.
Weather forecast and snow conditions
Bundle up and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that longer days means warmer weather: not in March in the Alps!
Traffic and weather forecasts, history of skiing show, horses on ice, motorcycle fair and other good train deals, horses on snow, giant greeting card
Plenty of snow in the Jura! February 2010 (photo: Shirley Curran)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – This weekend it is Geneva residents who head for the ski slopes en masse, with school holidays the week of 22 February. Expect crowds in all Swiss and nearby French resorts.
History of skiing and extraordinary collection of old skis – don’t miss it!
Conthey history of ski exhibit, Coop centre
Ski collection of Laurent Donze, more than 2,000 skis showing centuries of history
The newly redone large Coop in Conthey, two minutes off the autoroute in the heart of a large shopping complex, is home to an extraordinary collection of skis until 28 February. This is a must-see exhibit which recounts the history of skiing from ancient times, put together by Laurent Donzé, who has been president of the Swiss Cross Country Ski Federation. He told GenevaLunch he began collecting skis more than 30 years ago and he now has over 2,000 skis in his collection.
If you think downhill skiing began with the arrival in Switzerland of the British, you might find history shows it is a bit more complicated than that. The exhibit is well documented and illustrated, but the skis themselves offer a reminder of how the need for skis and their designs have changed.
Weather forecast
Rain mixed with snow Friday afternoon on the plain. Snow down to 700 metres in Alpine and Jura areas. Saturday: gradually clearing on the plain, with highs of 4-5C,. Snow Saturday in the Alps, with highs of 9C in the Alps due to warming foehn winds. Winds moderate on western edge of the Alps.
Traffic forecast
Geneva begins its vacation, but so do 10 other cantons Friday 19 February, so TCS warns that traffic will build during the afternoon. The area around Lausanne and heading towards Valais, around the Glion tunnel, are expected to be the worst-hit areas. List of expected heavy traffic areas and time, TCS. For current traffic advisories: TCS in French and the federal truck site in English. Reminder for drivers leaving Geneva: expect delays around Nyon and Gland due to roadworks that continue until 25 February.
Alpine resorts
Update 13 February: this is beautiful Swiss snow on Saturday!
Video (and skier): Anton Muller, at Bec Rond, Entremont, canton Valais, Switzerland (his photos and film clips on flickr)
Carnivals, cold, the down side of off-piste, Verbier and Jura reports
Verbier's February snow! (photo: Jessica Evans)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Glorious snow, biting cold in some places some of the time: call it winter in Switzerland! This weekend promises to be one of the best, with good crowds on the slopes, carnival starting in many areas, conditions great for skiing, sledding, ice-skating and more.
Weather forecast
Wind turbine, Saint Brais, Jura, Switzerland (photo: ©2010, Suisse Eole)
Update 28 August GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – New wind turbines at Saint-Brais, canton Jura, will raise Switzerland’s total annual renewable energy power production to 17.5 MW, according to Suisse Eole, the Swiss wind energy promotion association. Switzerland has a limited number of wind turbines, but the Jura wind park is the first in the country to be financed by a broad citizen base: some 600 private investors are behind the two 2 MW turbines. Suisse Eole predicts an increase of 200 MW of power by 2015.
By 2030 wind farming in Switzerland could provide 2.5 percent of the national electricity supply, and by 2050 that figure will jump to 7 percent, the group says.
The figures show the promise of wind production in Switzerland, although newly published international figures indicate that Switzerland is unlikely to match some other European countries’ adoption of wind power.
Switzerland winter holidays traffic jam areas, times
Jura in its winter glory
Jura snow! see additional photos with Jura report, below
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The main news this weekend: expect snow! That sounds good, but it promises to come with something less welcome, the potential for major traffic problems. The Swiss federal government has issued its annual end-January winter holidays traffic predictions, so be prepared. Peak times are Saturdays 08:00-15:00 heading south and Saturdays 10:00-16:00 plus Sundays 15:00-20:00 heading north.
Expect heavy traffic and slowdowns in these areas
Heading south
- A1 Sankt Margrethen – Genève: between Zurich and Berne
- A2 Basel – Chiasso: customs, Bâle/Weil am Rhein, between the Belchen tunnel and the interchange at Haerkingen, north entrance to the St Gothard tunnel
- A3 Basel – Zurich: customs, Basel/Saint-Louis interchange, la Wiese
- A6/A8 Berne – Interlaken: Thoune-Interlaken
- A9 Lausanne – Sion: Lausanne-Vevey
- A13 Sargans – Bellinzone: Sarganserland-Landquart, between Chur/Coire-Sud and Reichenau, north entrance to San Bernardino tunnel
- contournements/ bypasses around Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A1/A3)
Heading north
- A1 Genève – Sankt Margrethen: Berne-Zurich
- A2 Chiasso – Basel: south entrance to Saint-Gotthard tunnel between Reiden and Wiggertal ramp, customs at Basel/Weil am Rhein
- A3 Sargans – Basel: à la douane de Bâle/Saint-Louis
- A8/A6 Interlaken – Thoune: Interlaken-Spiez
- A8 Sarnen – Hergiswil: Alpnachstad-Lopper ramp
- A9 Martigny – Lausanne: between Bex and Glion tunnel
- A13 Bellinzone – Sargans: south entrance to San Bernardino tunnel, between Rothenbrunnen and Reichenau, between Zizers and Sarganserland ramp
- contournements/bypasses for Bern (A1/A6), Lausanne (A1/A9) and Zurich (A3/A1).
Jura report, from Shirley Curran
All week, as usual, we have skied above the clouds that enshroud the Geneva basin. Conditions in the Jura are spectacular. The hard packed base has had sprinklings of new snow and the weather has been glacial with wonderful views of trees all clothed in white. Colder, snowy weather is now predicted for a few days – that is good news for us!
Ed. note: GenevaLunch will be adding a report from the Alps during the weekend, including coverage from the Chateau d’Oex Balloon Festival.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The populations of three regions, Jura, Bernese Jura and Neuchatel, have voted strongly in favour of being combined into a single Jura Region canton, in a poll taken for regional newspapers and RSR, French Swiss radio. Nearly 60 percent of the population said they would like to see the idea, which has been aired several times in recent years, be put forward as a concrete initiative. The vote was far closer in the city of Neuchatel, which has been proposed as the capital, with Biel/Bienne included in the region.
The state of the AI en route to the mountains, glorious Jura snow
Weekend walk and circus special in Nyon, Swiss skiers and boarders
Jura (Crozet) Wednesday 20 January (image: S Curran)
Crozet with blue skies - Geneva in the fog below
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - It’s January, so expect a mix of Spring moments and sudden snow showers on the lakefront but pure winter goodness in the mountains this weekend.
Wednesday it snowed in Nyon and along the lakefront, throughout the week the Jura has thrived, as large amounts of the white stuff came down, and the Alps have had sunshine again after gloomy spells.
The road out of town
If you’re heading out of the Geneva area to the Swiss Alps be aware that this is the first weekend when the new A1 autoroute signaling system is open, adding a third lane in each direction between Morges and Lausanne. The system is very easy to follow and there have been no accidents since it was put in place Monday, but you do need to drive attentively, with other drivers sometimes surprised to find the system there. It operates only in the afternoons, until Monday 25 January when it goes into use full-time.
Weather forecast
Latest on Jura and Swiss ski conditions, weather forecast, avalanche courses, winter vineyards walk
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Let it snow, let it snow! City dwellers might have had enough of the white stuff in the past week, with the airport closed and cantons scrambling to find enough salt for their slippery streets. But on the slopes, it’s been good news, especially in the Jura resorts close to Geneva. Swiss resorts report that the holidays were good, with enough snow to keep most visitors happy. The Christmas-New Year’s period was one of the five best in the past 15 years.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Chinese Embassy in Bern 18 December warned the Swiss government over offers to take two brothers, inmates at the US Guantanamo centre in Cuba, but Bern says it was already clear that China was not happy, and the diplomatic issues were already under review. The Chinese warning surfaced in Swiss media this week when Le Matin Thursday published the story, later confirmed by the Swiss Police and Justice (SPJ) office.
The warning letter in fact came at a time of some confusion over Swiss offers to take Guantanamo detainees, the SPJ ministry has told media. One canton, Geneva, has to date officially offered, with federal government support, to take one inmate, an Ouzbek man.
Weather and snow outlook for Alps, update on avalanches, non-ski options
Fresh snow in Switzerland's canton Valais: near Visp, 7 January 2010
Update 13:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Snow and cold have been taunting much of northern Europe for the past week, but the Swiss Alps have had only moderate amounts of fresh snow and little of the killer cold that has struck Britain and other regions. The worst snow news in the Swiss Alps in the past week has been several deaths and injuries from avalanches.
Winter in the Lake Geneva region offers more than just downhill skiing and snowboarding. Portable ice-skating rinks (list for Vaud) became popular two years ago and they have allowed a number of small towns to offer this to the public for affordable prices.
Snow falling, blowing at night, 1,100 metres in Valais, Switzerland
Blowing snow, Valais, Switzerland 21 December 2009
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Winter arrived in Switzerland 21 December with a screech of cold air accompanied by howling winds and snow in many areas. By Tuesday noon temperatures had risen, but the country remains blanketed in white.
Switzerland suffered fewer accidents and other weather-related problems Sunday and Monday, compared to many areas in Europe, partly thanks to the warm foehn in mountainous regions. Strong winds whipped up but also melted some of the snow. The highest winds were recorded at the Diablerets glacier, 145.4kph, reports TSR.
Forecast from the national weather service, MeteoSwiss: clouds and snow alternating for the next few days, throughout the Jura, Lake Geneva and Swiss Alps region. The snow line will rise and fall between 400 and 1,500, with snow down to the plain at times in Valais. Temperature highs, 4-9C on the plain, 2-4C in Valais, with +1C at 2,000m. Colder as the week wears on, but some Alpine valleys will be warmed by foehn winds, which will be strong at times this week.
Title: Full moon snowshoeing
Location: Geneva to St Cergue, Mollandruz
Link out: Click here
Description: Snowshoe across the Jura by the light of the full moon, for individuals or small groups, leaving Geneva for St Cergue or Mollandruz, Vaud: 1.5 hours skiing. CHF80 includes equipment rental, transport, guides, hot wine.
Start Time: 18:00
Date: 2009-12-30
Garden, fresh snow, Saturday 12 December, Valais (1,100 m)
Aminona, near Crans-Montana, canton Valais, Switzerland, 4 December 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Last weekend there was snow: it wasn’t always pretty and it was wet, but it was the white stuff. It’s mostly gone now, except above 2,000 metres, but crowds nevertheless packed the autoroute from Geneva and canton Vaud to the resorts in Valais Friday evening. Saturday morning: it’s snowing again at 1,100 metres, so the buildup on the slopes is starting!
Here is your first taste of GenevaLunch’s popular winter weekend reports, a regular feature, now in its third season.
Alps, season gradually opening
Resorts news:
- Crans-Montana’s ski web site, mycma.ch, has a new look and offers more functions, but it’s slow. This weekend the resort offers low season rates, CHF57 for the day. You pay high season rates, CHF63 for the day, starting 19 December so get out there this weekend! (Ed. note: the Telegraph, UK, just ran a big feature on the resort but missed the boat when they got it wrong when they said it doesn’t strike them as a family resort)
- Gstaad, join the papparazzi, all sitting around outside Roman Polanski’s chalet, where he has been confined by a Swiss judge. Gstaad, for all its glamour, is not one of the high resorts, so not much is open in or near the town, but you can always head for the Glacier 3,000 area nearby.
- Verbier has been open since 20 November and will have five lifts open 12-13 December. CHF23-45 for day passes right now. New feature this winter – video snow reports. Snow depth Thursday, last snowfall: 70cm at 2,200m and 95cm at 2,950m
- Zermatt has 60 km of decent skiing at the moment.
Jura: you might prefer hiking to skiing this weekend, but some good news for later
December 2008, Jura
(Ed. note: Shirley Curran is back with her weekly reports on the Jura slopes, where she has taught skiing for years)
Our Jura resorts are due to open on December 19th and, in view of the excellent seasons we have had recently, to remain open until April 5th. Unfortunately, the weather is glorious in the Jura mountains at the moment with cobalt blue skies and some green slopes. We are not too worried. A cold spell is expected next week and snow will fall. This will be the first time for many seasons that we have not had a substantial fall in November!
Good news is that our downhill resorts (La Faucille, Mijoux, Crozet and Lélex) are all now using only the magnetic ‘forfaits’ that you can recharge on-line or at the ticket offices. The bornes read them automatically, so there will be no more fumbling with the ticket strung round your neck. The card is valid for three years and now costs only 1€.
9 December 2009, Jura - bit slushy yet!
Further good news is that Jean Charles and Pauline are back for another season running the refuge at Crozet. My top tip is a mid-morning hot wine next to their roaring fire or their home-cooked speciality of the day.
Weather forecast for the Swiss mountain regions
Snow in the Jura and the Alps, although some dry stretches in the Valais Alps. High of 3C, but -8C at 2,000m. Sunday 13 December colder, cloudy, highs of 0-2C. Snow intermittent throughout the mountain regions. MeteoSwiss
Swiss skiers off to a great start
Be sure to check our Monday morning weekend sports reports to follow Switzerland’s skiers, who are off to a great start this year.
Canton Valais, near St Luc, Switzerland, 4 December 2009
Aminona, near Crans-Montana, canton Valais, Switzerland, 4 December 2009
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Alps had enough snow over the weekend for the Swiss ski season to get off to a start Saturday 5 December. Resorts generally open mid-December, so this was a mostly quiet warmup, with only a handful of resorts’ runs and keen skiers on hand. Children en route to school Friday were sliding down hills on their bookbags, and later in the weekend on sleds.
GenevaLunch Friday 11 December begins its popular weekly update on snow, ski conditions, resort news, competitive sports, sports activities for non-racers, in the Jura and in the Alps.
Ski rates compared, various resorts, from TSR
Weather forecast, Meteoswiss: Wet and gray during the week, getting somewhat colder by Friday, with snow falling at 900 metres.
Title: Paddle for cancer dragon boat festival
Location: Lac de joux, Jura
Link out: Click here
Description: Join the 3rd annual Paddle for Cancer Dragonboat Festival at L’Abbaye on Lac de Joux.
Date: 06 Sep 2009
Home, sweet (green?) home, Carouge, Geneva
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Homeowners grabbed at the chance to get energy certificates at a bargain rate, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) says, with 15,000 energy certificates sold in only three weeks following the announcement that a certificate and annexed expert report would cost only CHF200 instead of the usual CHF1,200. The cantonal building energy certificate (CECB) establishes the energy efficiency of a building and is useful as a guide to current and future energy use.
Clos-du-Doubs, Jura, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Two motorcyclists were surprised by a bend in the road in separate accidents within an hour of each other, between Essertfallon and Soubey. The first fell but was uninjured but the second was hospitalized after colliding with an oncoming vehicle, reports 20 Minutes (Fre).
Lausanne 2009 - down to Earth and back to the books soon
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Canton Bern has decided to coordinate school vacations so they will in future be the same for children in German-speaking and French-speaking communes: this week the German-speakers started back to school and next week the French-speakers return. The decision about school holidays has until now been the perogative of the communes, rather than the canton. The cantonal education minister says the request for change comes from parents, who sometimes have children in more than one commune and who can’t coordinate family vacations.
That still leaves the problem of coordinating two-canton vacations for families with children in Geneva and Vaud, for example, particularly if they have children in private schools, where residence is less of an issue but cantonal public school calendars are sometimes observed.
Title: Evening hike: searching for Alpine rocks in the Jura
Location: Burtigny, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: Evening hike searching for Burtigny rocks -Alpine rocks- in the Jura.
Date: 05 Aug 2009
Swiss windmill, Valais
Morges, Vaud and Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Romande Energie, which serves electricity to much of French-speaking Switzerland and ewz, the energy company of the city of Zurich, are joining force to create a consortium that will build the country’s largest wind generating station if the project is approved. The two groups presented their plans Wednesday morning 17 June, for a project to build windmills in three Vaud villages in the Jura, Provence, Romairon, Fantanezier and the village of Val-de-Travers in canton Neuchatel.
Cantons Geneva, Jura and Solothurn, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland was the scene of violent deaths in three members of a family in Solothurn and of a University of Geneva professor out walking in the Jura the weekend of 6-7 June. Police have now arrested two people in connection with the Solothurn murders. The circumstances surrounding the death of Alain Monnier, professor of religion and anthropology in Geneva remain unclear for now, with police saying only that a knife was found in a nearby river and that he died of a stab wound to the heart.
Monnier was a professor for 21 years at the University of Geneva and he was last seen Thursday 4 June when he left his home in the Jura, near the Doubs river area, to go for a walk. His body was found Saturday. Police are not excluding all possibilities, from suicide to accident to murder.
Biel/Bienne, Jura, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Canton Jura will leave the Dews (Western Switzerland Economic Development) group at the end of 2009 to join the two Basel cantons (Basel State, Basel City) for economic promotion. The canton, in a press release, expressed its disappointment at the results of its collaboration with Vaud, Valais and Neuchatel. Dews will in any event be undergoing a change, enlarging to cover the rest of French-speaking Switzerland, including Bern, Fribourg and Geneva before the end of 2009.
Title: Evening hike: searching for Alpine rocks in the Jura
Location: Burtigny, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: A three hour evening hike searching for Alpine rocks, known as Burtigny rocks, in the Jura.
Date: 08 May 2009
Lake Geneva, Alps, March winds
Changeable March, near Sierre, Valais
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Gray skies and relatively warm temperatures are the rule on the plain 28-29 March but on the peaks the snow is still good, with a solid base. Aminona, Valais, at 2,400 m, still has a base of 220m, for example, with powder. World Meteorological Day was this week, so we’ll turn the spotlight for a moment on those good people who’ve helped us plan our winter weekends during the ski season.
World Meteorological Organization in Geneva to host major conference
The impact of climate change remains a hot topic, but the relationship between climate and weather is not always well understood.
Lake Geneva, Vaudois Alps, 19 March 2009
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A reprieve from winter during the past week, with heavy coats and jackets left at home, may have weakened your desire to head for the mountains, but if the weather forecast is right about cold and snow coming our way by next Tuesday, you might want to reconsider. Pick up some sun this weekend and watch the pros in Verbier!
Read more…
Swis Jura, winter 2009, with heavy snow (photo: Shirley Curran)
Jura, Switzerland (24 heures, Fre)- Extreme weather over the course of winter caused 600-1,000 trees to fall along the base of the Jura mountains. Local loggers and forest services are closing off the dangerous areas and evacuating fallen trees to ensure that train lines are not at risk.
The Vaud forest service compares the damage to that of Lothar, the 1999 storm that swept across central Europe.
View at dusk from Celigny, Vaud, 12 March 2009
Lake Geneva region (GenevaLunch) – Plenty of snow awaits those who look with longing up at the Alps and Jura, now that the sun has been shining and skies are clear enough to see the white peaks in all directions.
Image: click to view larger
Weekend weather from MeteoSwiss
Partly cloudy to sunny around Lake Geneva and sunny in Valais Friday, with lows of 0C and highs of 12C near Geneva and 13C in the Alps.
Title: Evening hike: searching for Alpine rocks in the Jura
Location: Burtigny, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: A three hour evening hike searching for Alpine rocks, known as Burtigny rocks, in the Jura.
Date: 11 Mar 2009
