After the torrid heatwave that hit Switzerland the second half of June and a subsequent (relative) respite, what will the month of July bring us, in terms of weather?
On June 27th, Switzerland broke the record for its hottest-ever June day for the third day in a row with the mercury rising to 39C in Basel.
More than a dozen other Swiss cities also broke their all-time heat records on the same day.
But even in the days leading up to June 27th, residents of Switzerland – like their counterparts in other parts of Europe – sweltered under extreme heat until the end of the month, when temperatures dropped to high 20s.
Will the heatwave be back in July?
As a reminder, Switzerland’s meteorological institute MeteoSwiss does not declare a heatwave “until the warning criteria have reached Level 3 – in other words, when at least three consecutive days are forecast with a mean daily temperature of 25C or higher. If the criteria are only met for a maximum duration of two days, this is described as a short hot spell.”
So will July be as hot as June?
On this particular point, opinions of various meteorologists do not always converge.
One point they do agree on is that it will continue to be hot, but whether Switzerland will actually experience another heatwave is not certain.
According to Lionel Peyraud, meteorologist at MeteoSwiss ,”just because we have a major heatwave in June doesn’t mean that July or August will necessarily be just as hot.”
He conceded that “we might see signs of a temperature rise starting around July 7th or 8th, but it’s still a bit too early to be certain.”
Another meteorologist, Vincent Devantay from MeteoNews, said that “it could indeed be very hot in July.”
“Some models are predicting temperatures exceeding 35C, but this is not the trend observed in the majority of forecasts.,” he added. “The possibility of another heatwave exists, but it is still too early to determine its intensity.”
As for Peter Wick, meteorologist at SRF public broadcaster, he too said that temps between 30 and 35C will likely return in July, “but it is still too early to assess with certainty whether a new heatwave will settle in and, if so, for how long,”
In the meantime, you can see the weather forecast for your region the next eight days here.
READ MORE: The essential heatwave vocabulary you need to follow a Swiss weather forecast
