St Prex, Switzerland and Lake Geneva: -10 before noon, with an icy wind, 6 February 2012
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – If you’ve been talking to friends about our Arctic weather, you should revise your description, for in recent days it’s been warmer in Svalbard, far north in the Arctic, than in Milan, Italy or Istanbul, Turkey, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva. Svalbard has seen 5C in recent days while Milan can expect -10 by the end of this week.
We’re currently in a “negative Arctic Oscillation” in Europe, says the WMO, based on reports coming in from its members, national weather services around the world.
The Arctic Oscillation “is the difference in pressure between Polar areas and mid-latitude areas (where most of the population in Europe lives). At the moment there is a negative Arctic Oscillation, which favors cold conditions in Europe and relatively warmer conditions in the Arctic.”
Our glacial temperatures are not even setting new records. “The long duration of the cold period, its relatively late onset and the extent of the cold area are noteworthy but not exceptional. The continental cold air extended even over the Balkan peninsula; slight ongoing frost was recorded even in northern Greece” in the past three weeks.
Meanwhile, Svalbard but also much of North America has benefited from mild air moving over the North Atlantic northwards over Iceland up to the Arctic region, according to the WMO.
Max mating back in March 2011 - Photo ©H.Burgermeister
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Keep the woolens handy, for Max the stork is sitting tight in Catalonia and she isn’t in a hurry to come home.
Groundhog shadows may give us clues to the length of winter in some countries, but in Switzerland it’s Max the stork, banded and followed by the Fribourg Natural History Museum.
She began her migration north about a week ago, from central Spain, but she is now sitting in Catalonia without appearing ready to head up to a Switzerland that is far colder than usual.
Background, Max, GenevaLunch
Fire death, drunk driver victims, high speed chase part of busy weekend emergency services work
Strong winds coupled with frigid temperatures whipped up icy flames on the lake surface Monday morning
Lake Geneva views of opposite shorelines obliterated by heavy waves and two metre high tongues of icy mists Monday 6 February
GENEVA / LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A new record low temperature for this winter was set in canton Graubuenden’s Engadine region, in Samedan this weekend: -35.1C.
The death toll from the cold in Europe, now estimated to be over 300 people, continues to rise.
In Switzerland, the icy weekend kept police and firefighters busy, and Touring Club Suisse (TCS), the automobile club, had a record 23,000 calls to help motorists.
Trains are running slow in several areas as the CFF rail company deals with icy lines and other cold-related problems.
Burst pipes caused flooding Saturday and Sunday, notably in Geneva and Lausanne, reports TSR. The head of Swissgrid, which manages the Swiss electricity supply, told NZZ in Zurich this weekend that the country risks blackouts in coming days because the system is pushed to its limits.
A main SSR (public broadcasting) emitter on top of Säntis mountain gave way under pressure from heavy snow, according to 24 Heures, and is using emergency power.
Vernier drunk driver crashes into trio
Police in Geneva were called to Vernier Saturday night where a 25-year-old man with a two-week old grudge against a nightclub worker left the establishment on Chemin des Batailles and got into his parked car, then drove into three young customers of the club, narrowly missing the club employee.
He had been drinking in several night spots and his alcohol level was measured at 1.69 after the accident, according to Geneva police. His victims were a 20-year-old Geneva man who lives in Vernier who was treated at the nearby Hopital de la Tour and two women who were taken to the cantonal hospital. The 19-year-old woman, who is Bolivian and lives in Rolle, is being treated for several facial injuries and the 18-year-old for a broken leg.
The driver continued and crashed into a number of rental cars parked nearby. He is under arrest for attempting to cause severe bodily harm and on other charges, and his license has been lifted.
Lausanne police chase ends in three captured
A car in Lutry with four people suddenly took off Friday when police stopped it and led area police on a high-speed chase as far as Chemin Campagne Pierraz-Portay in Pully, where the passengers took off on foot. Two were caught and arrested, along with the driver, when police discovered a quantity of goods stolens from homes in the Lausanne region. The car had Belgian plates and the two Algerians and one Iraqi were from Belgium, ages 32-35. Police are looking for their partner.
One dead in Martigny fire
One person died and another was saved by firefighters from a second floor balcony of an apartment building early Saturday 4 February when a fire broke out.
The identity of the victim is being established, say canton Valais police.
The first floor apartment was unoccupied. The cause of the fire, at 01:15, is being investigated.
Hazelnut, Basel, 3 January 2012 (photo: MeteoSwiss pollen forecasts)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Massive amounts of snow cover the Jura and Alps, but on the Lake Geneva region plains the weather has been clement, and for hay fever sufferers that translates into the hazelnut trees budding. Where the air is dry, pollen is already being released.
The amounts are small but measurable near Geneva, MeteoSwiss’s pollen map shows, but by tomorrow in Ticino, with flowering already occurring Thursday 12 January, the rating will go up to “average”, as they have done in some very locally confined areas, such as Buchs in eastern Switzerland.
Flowering of troublesome pollen-bearing plants has been happening earlier since the 1990s, says the national weather service but traditionally this happens anywhere from December to March depending on the combination of a number of factors. Hazelnuts are now forecast to flower 24 January in Geneva and Lausanne, a full two weeks earlier than the average.
MeteoSwiss is now offering a daily pollen forecasting service, in French, German and Italian, with maps showing the daily situation for the main varieties that cause problems. A smart-phone application is free of charge.
Editor Ellen Wallace shot this view out her kitchen window Thursday night, dimpled snow lit by a farmer's tractor headlights - by morning there was an additional foot of snow and the surface was smooth and white
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Friday 14:30, 6 January: snow has been falling steadily and heavily in many parts of Switzerland for the past 36 hours, with Crans-Montana and other resorts recording 100cm of fresh snow at 3,000 metres in the past 24 hours.
Most resorts are closed due to very high winds and heavy snow.
Canton Valais police say they received 1,200 phone calls between 08:00 Thursday and midnight, with flooding and fallen trees as well as electricity out in some areas. St Niklaus in the Goms Valley was without electricity and phones for several hours.
Main roads in Valais remain open but local road-clearing services are pushed to their limits and side roads above about 1,000 metres are closed or not completely cleared in many areas.
The CFF rail company says most trains are running, but several smaller trains up to mountain areas are not running, including Montreux to Rochers-de-Naye, Aigle to Diableret, Martigny-Le Chable, the funiculaire from Sierre to Crans-Montana, several Interlaken lines (Murren, Grindelwald, Kleine Scheidegg, Jungfraujoch) and the Valais-Bern train for cars is operating irregularly, with no stops at Goppenstein since the road between there and Goppel is closed.
Kloten airport had several delays due to and snow, but mid-afternoon Friday most flights are back on schedule. Geneva airport has not been affected by the weather in the rest of the country. Zurich and central Switzerland had winds up to 120kph, reports swissinfo.
The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, WSL, has issued a bulletin showing the avalanche risk at 4/5 (high) in eastern Vaud, most of Valais and Graubuenden:
More en route, so don't put the shovels away yet (Valais, January 2012)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The weather people have given it a name already: winter storm Andrea is en route and we can expect snow down to 400 metres in the Jura and Lake Geneva regions.
Snow should fall down to the plain in canton Valais, with high winds in mountain areas.
The Jura can expect gusts of up to 180kph from Thursday morning to Friday.
Ski slopes are likely to be closed for much of Thursday and Friday due to high winds; check local conditions and openings. Alpine areas are likely to have 40-60cm of fresh snow before the weekend.
Two die as high winds sweep the region
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Winds of up to 100mph in Scotland and other parts of Britain 3 January are causing considerable damage, with some areas suffering power cuts and transport disrupted, including the London-Edinburgh trains. A man died in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in southern England when a tree fell on his van and a sailor, one of three injured on a boat in the Channel, died after they were rescued.
Weather alerts remain in place, with strong winds expected throughout the night.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A “superstorm” is advancing on Alaska and expected to arrive Wednesday night 9 November, according to the US National Weather Service: “Damaging winds, coastal flooding, and blizzard conditions are among the expected impacts of a Bering Sea “superstorm” expected to slam into Alaska this evening.” Residents are being warned to take precautions, with most of the western edge of the state affected.
Source: US Weather Service, Alaska division
Swiss pumpkins
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Welcome to November weather a couple days early, with chilly days and nights forecast in the Lake Geneva region this weekend: highs of 11-14C and lows of 7-11C, with Sunday night slightly more clement than Friday and Saturday nights, according to Meteo Swiss.
The 12,000 people registered for the Lausanne Marathon will be keeping warm Sunday, so drivers should be aware that the lake road is closed from 07:30 to 17:00 Sunday, between Lausanne and La-Tour-de-Peilz while the race takes place. Public transport will continue to operate in the area.
Lausanne is also host to a pumpkin carving fair Sunday, or, if you’re getting fired up about Christmas, the notable Schilliger Garden Centre Christmas markets are open Saturday, two of the many events that are listed as a regular feature of GenevaLunch.
Saturday night reminder: turn your clocks back one hour as we move off summer time, also known as daylight savings time.
screen shots, new "my weather" worldwide service (source: Apple iTunes)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Hong Kong Observatory launched a new mobile app, “my weather”, Monday 10 October, designed to help travellers quickly find the official weather report for their area, anywhere in the world.
The new app features the World Weather Information Service (WWIS) and is the world’s first-ever location-specific weather service providing official city weather forecasts around the world for people on the move, says Geneva-based WMO.
The free app has location-based technology that detects the user’s location and it automatically displays the latest official weather forecasts and climatological information of the city nearest to the user.
“It provides a quick search function that allows users to obtain the latest official weather information from over 1,400 cities around the world. The application also enables users to create bookmarks for easy access to weather forecasts for cities of their choice in the future,” according to WMO.
The new app can be downloaded at http://itunes.apple.com/
Ed. note: I just downloaded and used it – up came Swiss, Italian and German cities, since it uses cities in a 200km range. Weather forecast is equally gloomy in all areas.
Swiss Alps downpour: the birds were happy
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Happy worm-hunting birds were the rare creatures outside Monday morning in Switzerland as rain, rain and more rain fell.
Traffic on a number of highways early Monday was slowed down by the soggy start to the week.
Switzerland was drenched, with the exception of parts of Ticino; the central and eastern parts of the country were given an orange alert Monday morning by the national weather service, MeteoSwiss, for heavy rainfall.
Some areas received up to 60mm of rain between Sunday night and Monday noon, with most areas getting 25-35mm.
The new downpour, the result of a cold front from the north, followed 80-110mm in some regions from Thursday to Sunday, ending a long dry spell in many areas, particularly in the Alps.
Another 10 to 20mm is likely to fall Monday afternoon on northern Alpine slopes, especially along the eastern stretch and northern Graubuenden.
The snowline, which was down to 1,200 metres Saturday, rose to 2,600 metres Monday as temperatures warmed up.
All parts of the country should see rain end by Monday evening.
Aminona, near Crans-Montana, with snow down to 1,400 metres 8 October 2011
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – The season’s first real snowfall has hit the entire Swiss Alps, with a tailback of 7km at the northern entrance to the St Gotthard tunnel mid-afternoon Saturday, according to Touring Club Swiss’s real-time road advisory service.
Several Swiss cantons are taking their autumn week-long holiday starting this weekend.
The snow line (altitude at which snow is falling) varies between 1,100 and 1,500 metres Saturday afternoon.
The national weather service, MeteoSwiss, is predicting slightly warmer, mixed weather starting Sunday.
Warmer temperatures in Corvatsch, at 2,700m. The top picture shows the mountain range 20 September 20; the bottom shot was taken 24 September. Photo MeteoSwiss
SION, SWITZERLAND – Temperatures around Switzerland were higher than expected Monday 26 September, above 25C in several cities around the country.
According to the Swiss national weather service, MeteoSwiss, temperatures were well above the normal average of 20C on the plain and in many ski resorts above 1,000 metres.
Temperatures peeked at 25.1C in Sion, 25.6 in Basel and reached 25.4 in Lugano, canton Ticino.
“Although these temperatures are not exceptional, they represent a particularly hot month of September,” says a MeteoSwiss spokesperson. Temperatures for the month of September may break records in Sion and Lugano.
For many ski resorts in Switzerland, September 2011 will go down as one of the warmest in the last 150 years. At the Jungfraujoch and the Great St Bernard pass, temperatures were almost two degrees hotter than what they were in July.
MeteoSwiss expects that the same will be true for Geneva.
Max the Stork says summer is gone!
FRIBOURG, SWITZERLAND – Max, the Swiss-born white stork who has been tracked for longer than any other bird in the wild, left her summer home in Tuefingen, Saturday 10 September.
The Fribourg Natural History Museum, which banded and tracks the bird, says that for the first time in her 13 years of winter migrations, she left together with her partner, the father of this year’s offspring.
Max winters in the south of Spain or sometimes Morocco and her migration will take about three weeks, with stopovers in France.
The band she is wearing now is four years old and was slightly damaged, according to the museum.
Tracking is not as constant as in the past, and it’s not clear at the moment where precisely the bird has gone.
Vinea wine festival, Sierre
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Temperatures are inching back up this weekend, with highs of 28C expected, but the warmer weather will bring some thundershowers with it in French-speaking Switzerland.
Central Switzerland is more likely to be dry and sunny, so if you’re up or hiking, head for Interlaken or Lucerne.
GenevaLunch will be publishing some suggestions for Swiss mountain hiking tomorrow, Friday 2 September. We will also publish a guide to visiting Vinea (see below).
Be sure to check out the GenevaLunch events calendar for a good weekend selection.
Two top alternatives for the weekend are:
- the Vinea wine festival in Sierre, Switzerland’s largest outdoor wine fair, with 150 producers from throughout the country presenting 1,500 wines, at an event that turns the main street of Sierre into a stream of white tents with a congenial crowd of 10,000 wine-lovers. Complete programme and details, Vinea (in English)
- Saturday, 3 September the Chateau de Chillon is offering a special astronomy observation event for CHF10 with special entrance price for children: a teleconference at 20:15 with astrophysicist Sylvia Ekstrom from the University of Geneva, in French, will be followed by an observation of the skies, with access to special instruments, at the foot of the castle: info@chillon.ch or telephone 021 966 8910 to register.
Update 21:50 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Expect change! Geneva Friday night is experiencing heavy storms, as they build up to the east. Trains on the Geneva-Lausanne run are suffering 15-20 minute delays and a tree has fallen on the tracks near Rolle, reports TSR. Valais police have sent out a news alert asking media to inform the public that the danger level is ex 4 out of 5, rather than 4 to 5 – and please, they ask, don’t phone the police for weather forecasts!
Meteoswiss, the national weather service, in May moved to a new system for danger alerts: 4 out of 5 is described as “a dangerous meteorological event is expected that is unusual for the season.”
The weekend weather will shift from Friday afternoon’s occasional bursts of sun to storms starting along the Jura, with hail expected in some areas and falling temperatures.
Weekend highs in the French-speaking part of Switzerland should be 20-22C with evening temperatures falling to 8C. Snow will fall down to 2,000 metres.
The Swiss Alps in canton Valais will have gusting winds but temperatures will be higher thanks to warm, dry foehn winds initially, followed by strong northwest winds in the mountains and breezes in the valleys.
Sunday should be clement, with sunshine and highs of 22C.
MOROCCO – At least 78 people were killed when a Moroccan military transport plane crashed into a mountain in the south of the country during bad weather, said the state news agency, MAP.
“Seventy-eight people were killed, and three were seriously injured following a crash, on Tuesday, of a C-130 aircraft of the Royal Armed Forces northeast the southern city of Guelmim,” the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) said in a statement to the state news agency.
King Mohammed VI sent messages of condolence to the families of the victims.
The crash is Morocco’s worst known air disaster since 1973, when 105 people were killed after a Royal Air Maroc aircraft crashed near the capital Rabat.
Further details: MAP.
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – EPFL chose the right week to talk about a new field project, part of a larger study of how environment influences flood rates in mountain valleys.
Ticino and parts of Valais, including Zermatt, are worriedly watching rising waters from heavy summer storms.
The two-year-old project to better understand the hydrology of the Alps in order to reduce risks is run by EPFL’s Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory (Eflum). It has set up 25 ground weather stations in a 20 km2 area that covers a large part of the Val Ferret watershed. The goal is to improve methods for predicting natural disasters to better warn populations in risk zones. “Mathematical models exist, but they still don’t take into account all the data that are needed to establish reliable predictions, such as the influence of air temperature, the formation of thermal winds or the impact of precipitation,” says Marc Parlange, the EPFL professor who heads the lab.
The field project this summer has involved setting up several new tools: two weather stations on 10m towers, a weather balloon that will be regularly deployed, and three Lidars, laser-based instruments which will be used to take continuous wind data over a height of nearly 2 km.
Water and wind input are two key aspects being studied this summer. Val Ferrat was chosen because it was the rare valley to meet a specific set of requirements, says Raphaël Mutzner, the PhD student responsible for hydrologic modeling.
There were not many options, he points out.
Forecast is for more of the same
Update 14 July 10:00 ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Thunderstorms and heavy rains are taking their toll in central and eastern Switzerland, with emergency services taking calls for pleasure craft in trouble on the lakes, trees down on roads, cellars flooded.
Torrential rains in parts of Valais are prompting fears of flooding in Zermatt (video, 20 Minutes) and the A2 autoroute in Ticino was cut off between Lugano and Mendrisio by a mudslide late Wednesday.
In the Bernese Oberland the Schynige Platte rail line was cut off by fallen trees and 64 passengers had to be evacuated by helicopters.
Zurich has had the most rain, according to TSR, with 40cm/m2 at the airport.
MeteoSwiss is predicting more of the same until at least mid-day Thursday in western Switzerland and Saturday in the central and eastern parts of the country.
Photos below, taken from the same spot in Valais during one hour, show the rapidly changing weather in the Alps. Click on images to view larger.
Swiss Alpine storm pummels garden 13 July
Heavy sheets of rain swept across the Alps Wednesday
Val d'Anniviers, storms come to an end
Val d'Anniviers, end of storm 13 July 2011
Not a cloud in the sky - storms have moved on to eastern Switzerland
The clouds are not quite ready to call it a day! Hikers, beware.
Switzerland had 1.6 percent more cars in 2010 than in 2009, but gasoline consumption was down, in favour of diesel and renewable source products (here: electric car at the Grimsel pass)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland consumed 4.4 percent more energy in 2010, including a 4 percent increase for electricity, says the Swiss Federal Energy Office.
Three main factors contributed to the rise, it notes in a statement issued Tuesday 28 June: continuing population growth, economic growth with industrial consumption up, and colder weather than usual during the 2010-11 winter.
Degree-days of heating were up 12.7 percent compared to 2009. GDP grew 2.6 percent in 2010 compared to a fall of 1.9 percent the previous year. And the population grew 1 percent during the year, with 1.6 percent more vehicle owners.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – One young man has died and a second has been rescued by an emergency team on the Aiguille de Midi in the Chamonix region of France, the Tribune de Geneve reports. The newspaper was told by Chamonix police that the two 19-year-olds were climbing the north face of the Aiguille de Midi Tuesday, when they ran into trouble with the weather. They contacted the mountain patrol and were told to stay put for a second night Wednesday, due to weather conditions.
For reasons that are unclear one of them then fell 400 metres to his death and the other contacted the French patrol service Thursday with the news. A foot patrol set out to find them but failed, due to weather and it was 02:00 Thursday before the survivor was picked up by helicopter.
Details have not been provided about where the two young men are from.
vines ripening above Sierre, in late summer
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A note to GenevaLunch visitors: the four-day Ascension weekend taken by many Swiss businesses has begun. The cold rainy weather will give way to warmer temperatures and partly sunny skies starting Thursday 2 June. This is a popular holiday for travelling inside Switzerland, so traffic will be heavy frequently, not just during the peak travel times for European’s who are crossing the country as they take the long weekend.
Temperatures are expected to rise to 20-23C for the highs in western Switzerland, with lows of 8-9C.
A reminder for air travellers: Wednesday 1 June is the first day of the new Swiss rules on duty free: you can now purchase duty free goods on arrival as well as when leaving the country. You can order your goods online, in advance, and the shops are open from 06:00 to 23:00 seven days a week. Details on Genève Aéroport‘s duty free pages.
Canton Valais, Switzerland’s largest wine-producing region, is holding its open days 2-4 June. The canton is noted for its spectacular Alpine vineyards along the banks of the Rhone and the rich variety of its wine grapes. Details in French; GenevaLunch will provide suggestions and more information Thursday.
Tour de Romandie finishes with glorious weather as partner
Weather forecast: brief rain, spot of frost, then warmer and sunny again
Sunny finish for Tour de Romandie winner (photo ©2011 Samuel Jacquet, flickr.com/photos/sam-s-place/with/5681965676/ )
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The rain is finally falling Tuesday morning 3 May, giving a reprieve after the spectacularly dry April in the Lake Geneva region, but weather forecasters warn it will be shortlived: expect showers to end late Tuesday, with only occasional rain along mountain ridges in the next two days. Some areas will be hit by ground frost Thursday, then temperatures will climb to highs of 24-25C with sunshine for the weekend.
Australian cyclist wins Tour, with Brit taking the day in Geneva
The Tour de Romandie finished in Geneva Sunday in a burst of fine weather, with Australian Cadel Evans taking the title for the second time, while British cyclist Ben Swift won Sunday’s leg of the race.
Lausanne’s popular 10 and 20-km runs celebrated their 30th anniversary Saturday. The evening run pulled in an estimated crowd of 18,000 participants. One of the corporate groups that took part did, not surprisingly, unusually well: the Lausanne-based governing body of athletics on the continent, European Athletics, sent a team of seven, who “finished high in the rankings”.
Army continues to fight Visp fire
Visp, Valais forest fire 1 May (click on imge to view larger)
The forest fire in Visp in canton Valais, at the edge of a vast Alpine forest area that stretches to Zermatt and beyond, was still smoldering Sunday 1 May, despite continual flyovers by helicopters dumping buckets of water on embers.
The army Monday morning sent in a Super Puma to step up the fight against the fire, after unrolling 2,700 metres of hosepipe to help local firefighters and dumping 400 tons of water on the area by the end of the week. The army also kept traffic and the curious moving Sunday, on the busy stretch of road, but by Tuesday the army presence was down from 120 soldiers to 70 in the area.
The forest rises steeply behind the body shop on the cantonal highway where the fire started, and much of the area cannot be easily accessed on foot.
The fire was caught early enough to prevent total destruction to the forest, but the full damage is likely to be apparent only later in the year, as some of the trees and plant life die off due to damage.
Authorities are concerned that the fire will be sparked anew by the extremely dry conditions.
Liam Bates, Nick Bates, take a break up on St Moritz's famed Corvatsch
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - GenevaLunch will soon share the results of the one week, best of Swiss ski slopes dream trip taken by our two reporters, Liam and Nick Bates, but in the meantime, here is today’s quick update from St Moritz.
“Snow is good, but too thin for real off-piste skiing. Wednesday offered brilliant blue skies but a biting wind. Thursday, up on Corvatsch, the wind had died down and the morning weather was fine, but faded into white-out conditions as it clouded over. Snow on the way, we hope!”
Tomorrow: Scuol, then on to Davos for more hard work on the slopes!
Max the white stork, in early March 2009, on her snowy nest near the Swiss-German border (photo: Heida Buergermeister)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Max the white stork, who winters in Spain or, some years, in North Africa, has returned to Switzerland, usually a sign that spring is on its way.
Max, 11, is a female white stork born near Avenches, Vaud in Switzerland. She is the longest-living satellite-tracked bird in the world. The Natural History Museum in Fribourg, which tracks her migrations and nesting habits.
She began her flight from Madrid 14 January, was in the south of France 5 February and Monday 7 February she crossed into Switzerland, spending the night in Baden.
She was mating by the first of March in 2010, so she probably has three weeks now to prepare a nest and get ready to welcome a mate.
Public transport special offer will run to 15 February
Saleve rises out of the fog: Lake Geneva in winter often sits in a damp blanket of fog that traps fine particles (photo taken 23 January 2010, ©2011 Obwoodman, http://www.flickr.com/photos/86813892@N00/)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Last week’s too-high level of fine particles in the air around Lake Geneva, higher than allowed by federal legislation, has fallen to within limits, according to canton Vaud.
Geneva and Vaud both issued warnings to residents last week to stay indoors and do fewer sports if they are elderly or susceptible to lung problems. The combination of cold air above and warmer air on the lake combined to trap fine particles in the air, up to about 1,000 metres altitude. The problem is not uncommon in the Lake Geneva region in winter.
Warmer air throughout Switzerland has eased the situation and warm, sunny weather for most of this week should help keep the air clearer.
Vaud offers 3 month half-price CFF card to increase public transport use
Vaud’s Bol d’Air programme will remain in place until 15 February, says the canton: for CHF34 instead of CHF54 the canton’s residents can buy a half-price CFF rail card that is good all trains, boats and postal buses in Switzerland, and it provides reductions on urban transport systems, including the Mobilis regional system. Details and coupon
The programme is designed to encourage people to switch to public transport once an alarm is sounded for unacceptable levels of air pollution.
Geneva Friday offered an explanation, in French, and fine particles levels in neighbouring towns, to put the problem in perspective. The web page is worth bookmarking if you have allergies or lung problems, for future pollution alerts.
Australia’s neighbour New Zealand has been watching the lethal floods and storms in Australia, keeping a comfortable distance, but some residents of the land where the Hobbits make movies have been asking why extreme weather conditions seem to skirt around them.
The New Zealand Herald took time out from Australia-watching to explain: “New Zealand is unaffected by such a monstrous weather event because it does not have the warm oceans needed to fuel a tropical cyclone. Our geography protects us from the worst cyclones because we are too far south of the tropics. Australia’s east coast, on the other hand, is firmly in the middle of the tropics and their cyclone-producing warm currents.”
Cyclones, the paper says, come out of ocean waters that are at least 27C, whereas New Zealand’s coastal waters are never warmer than 25C.
Only once, in 1968, have winds of cyclone 5 strength been recorded in New Zealand, the Herald notes, the result of a rare incidence of a drifting tropical storm meeting a polar storm.
Links to other sites: New Zealand Met Office, New Zealand Tourism Office on weather
You may have to go higher for the snow in Verbier, but the view is great and there is snow on those mountains!
We will be publishing our regular Swiss weekend winter sports report here Friday evening, a bit later than usual, but we can already tell you this much: the snow in most places is in good shape thanks to the cold weather, with the Jura in surprisingly good shape. And prepare for great weather for the weekend! Temperatures rising to 5-7C with sunshine and low winds in most parts of western Switzerland.
More to follow, including beautiful hot-air balloon photos, details about the Junior World Cup ski races in Crans-Montana and the Nissan Free Ride World Tour, on in St Moritz Sunday.
Current La Niña episode started in June 2010, expected to die down over next four months
Milton Road, Brisbane, Australia January 2011 - part of a collection of Brisbane flood photos on flickr by Eric Veland: www.flickr.com/photos/erikveland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva has published data confirming that recent heavy rains that led to flooding in Australia are linked to a La Niña “episode” that began in June 2010.
Areas including Australia and Indonesia that have already been affected are warned by forecasters to expect more unusually heavy rain for the next one to two months before the episode dies down.
The WMO is a United Nations organization, whose member countries’ national weather and meteorological services use it to work together.
The WMO says that “during La Niña episodes rainfall is increased across the western equatorial Pacific, including northern Australia and Indonesia during December-February and the Philippines during June-August”.
Below average sea level pressure and above average sea surface temperature in some areas, coupled with La Niña “have led to much above average rainfall in parts of Australia, Indonesia and southeast Asia. This La Niña situation is also believed to be linked to above average rainfall in southern Africa, below average rainfall in eastern equatorial Africa, and below average rainfall in central southwest Asia and southeastern South America.”
It is the opposite of El Niño, which brings unusually warm ocean surface temperatures.” Both events disrupt the large-scale ocean-atmosphere circulation patterns in the tropics and have important consequences for weather and climate around the globe. Once established, they typically last for 9 months or more,” according to the WMO.
Devastating floods in the Rio de Janeiro region in Brazil continue to take a high toll, with the number of deaths now well above 400 and expected to rise as rescuers find more bodies. Some 14,000 people are homeless and the country’s new president, Dilma Rousseff has promised US$400 million in aid to clean up and rebuild.
In other extreme weather news, Brisbane and the Queenlands area in Australia fear more rain is on the way, with a cyclone building up offshore while the massive damage from high waters of the past two weeks is assessed. Reuters reports that 12,000 homes have been destroyed and 118,000 buildings are without electricity. The World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, Switzerland 10 January confirmed that the heavy rains are part of the La Nina weather pattern.
In the Boston area and much of the rest of the northeastern US, heavy snows are threatening again, but schools and airports have re-opened after being closed for two days while the area dug itself out.
Links to other sites: Boston.com, Los Angeles Times, Reuters
Video, Boston.com
