Switzerland experienced a recent heatwave
Keystone-SDA
The spring of 2026 went down in Swiss statistics as the third warmest since records began. Persistent high pressure led to very dry conditions, plenty of sunshine and a heatwave with new temperature records in May.
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The national average temperature from March to May was 1.6 degrees Celcius above the average for the reference period from 1991 to 2020, according to the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss). Only the springs of 2011 and 2007 were warmer, with a deviation of 1.9C and 1.7C respectively.
In meteorological terms, spring lasts from March 1 to May 31. At 0.4C, March was only slightly above the norm. April, on the other hand, was the fifth warmest on a national average since measurements began. The temperature was 2.6 degrees above the reference period.
May breaks a few records
May was a changeable month. A cold phase around Ascension with ground frost and fresh snow down to low altitudes was followed by an unusually early heatwave towards the end of the month. Overall, May was 1.8 degrees warmer than average.
The heatwave brought new daily highs for May at many measurement locations. In Biasca, canton Ticino, the highest temperature ever recorded in May on the southern side of the Alps was 34.8 degrees on May 28. This is only 0.3 degrees below the national record for May in Switzerland, which was set in Sion on 25 May 2009 at 35.1 degrees Celsius.
The spring was also one of the driest on record. The amount of precipitation in the period from March to May 2026 was between 40 and 90% below the norm, depending on the region. The spring was particularly dry in the eastern parts of the country. In the Graubünden and Engadin region, it was the driest spring on average since 1901.
Adapted from German by AI/mga
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