Switzerland has experienced its hottest summer since records began
Keystone-SDA
The summer of 2026 was the hottest in Switzerland since records began. The average temperature for the period from June to August was 17.2°C, 0.4 degrees higher than that of summer of 2003, MétéoSuisse announced on Thursday.
The national average temperature was also 3.4°C higher than that of the 1991–2020 reference period. The heatwave hit the north-west of the country particularly hard, with a difference of 4.0 degrees compared with the reference period.
The temperature also rose to 39.7°C on July 30 at the Basel-Binningen station, equalling the record high temperature recorded north of the Alps (in Geneva/Cointrin on July 7, 2015), as noted by the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology in its Summer 2026 Climatological Bulletin.
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Many locations reached unprecedented levels: in total, 30 MeteoSwiss stations recorded a new heat record during the summer of 2026. And nearly half of them set this record as early as June.
In Graubünden, Scuol also recorded an “impressive” record: on June 27, 2026, a temperature of 35.1 °C was measured there at an altitude of 1,304 metres.
The number of hot days and tropical nights also soared this summer. Several stations recorded nearly two extra weeks of tropical days compared with the previous record, notably in Neuchâtel and Glarus (+18). The number of tropical nights, meanwhile, reached 50 this summer – eight more than in 2003, according to MeteoSwiss.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
