Weather: The “Indian” winter breaks records of mildness – News Geneva: Geneva news

There was already “Indian summer” when the summer season played overtime and softened the fall. Now you have to get used to the Indian winter. MeteoSwiss announced on Wednesday that the country has had the mildest winter on record since the start of measurements in 1864, with an average temperature above 0 ° C. “This has only been observed four times in the history of measurements, in 1989-1990, 2006-2007, 2015-2016,” recounts Mikhaël Schwander, meteorologist at MeteoSwiss. This year, we’re a step up. ” Consequence: it’s budding and it’s already blooming, especially on the hazelnut and poplar side.

Since 1864 and until 1990, the thermometer has always ventured into negative values. Winters with a temperature of -2 ° C were then described as “mild”. “But since 1990, they have entered a new regime,” explains Mikhaël Schwander. Cold winters with average temperatures below -4 ° C have disappeared from our current climate. ”

More generally, from the period 1871-1900 to the period 1991-2020, winter in Switzerland has warmed by almost 2 ° C. And it’s off to continue. Without measures to protect the climate, MétéoSuisse warns, “a further increase in the average winter temperature of 3.5 ° C will characterize Switzerland’s climate in the middle of the century. Winters where the temperature does not drop below 0 ° C will become the norm. ”

And what about snow? “Between 1981 and 2010, there was an average of seven days of fresh snow,” reports the meteorologist. If nothing is done to combat global warming, forecasts predict that the average will drop to four days in 2060, and then to two days in 2085. “

Obviously, snow has become an exception. This year is the perfect illustration. The sky dropped a few flakes in December but not enough to be counted. “There must be at least 1 centimeter of fresh snow,” says Mikhaël Schwander. We are taking our measurements at 7:00 am, but by that time the layer had already melted. ” For the time being, therefore, there have not yet been any officially recorded falls in Geneva. The specialist notes that since the 1960s, there has never been a winter without snow. “But we still have time: in 2008, the first snowfall was registered on March 20!”.

Created: 19.02.2020, 6.15 p.m.

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