Snow in March – record snowfall 17 years ago – Meteo

“March snow no longer hurts”, “March snow hurts the seeds” or “Don’t be afraid of the snow in March, because a warm heart sleeps underneath it”. Peasant Rules disagree on whether snow in March is harmful or not. In any case, some are looking forward to snow in March, others less so.

The chronic lack of snow in winter 22/23 should probably not necessarily be made up for for many in the lowlands. In the Alps, however, a good load of snow would be very important, otherwise there would be no meltwater from the Alps in early summer. The year 2006 shows that there can still be a lot of snow in March in the lowlands.

snow weekend

On Saturday, March 4, 2006, heavy snowfall began early in the morning. It then continued to snow without a break for more than 24 hours before the snowfall eased over the course of Sunday morning. The fresh snow measurement from Sunday morning at 7 a.m. showed new record values ​​in many places, as the following table shows:

Snow depths have been recorded in St. Gallen since 1938. The 60 centimeters of fresh snow on March 5, 2006 are a record! There was a total of 68 centimeters of snow on Sunday morning. Snow data from the Zürichberg is available for the last 152 years: There, too, fresh snow never fell within 24 hours than in March 2006 with 54 centimeters. By the way, the last bits of snow didn’t melt away until March 17th.

Legend:

Zurich

Deep March winter in Lake Zurich.

Martin Schuler

Snow depths have been recorded in St. Gallen since 1938. The 60 centimeters of fresh snow on March 5, 2006 are a record! There was a total of 68 centimeters of snow on Sunday morning. Snow data from the Zürichberg is available for the last 152 years: There, too, fresh snow never fell within 24 hours than in March 2006 with 54 centimeters. By the way, the last bits of snow didn’t melt away until March 17th.

Lucky for the weekend

Such masses of snow on a working day: there would have been a major collapse in traffic. Luckily there weren’t too many motorists on the road on Sunday morning. Nevertheless, traffic came to a standstill in many places. Trees that fell under the weight of the snow also caused numerous road sections to be closed.

Legend:

Zurich

Snow at Turbinenplatz in March 2006.

SRF

Trigger: cold air versus warm air

The intense snowfall was caused by a so-called counter-current situation. A low pressure area moved across France to northern Italy this weekend. It steered humid and relatively mild air towards Switzerland from the south-west. At the same time, a weak high over Germany caused a breeze that carried cold air to northern Switzerland. When these air masses collided, these heavy snowfalls occurred. In the western Mittelland and in the Alps, the snow line was significantly higher in the milder air – the amount of fresh snow was therefore lower. During the same period, only 17 centimeters of snow fell in Bern and 11 centimeters in Elm/GL.

Legend:

Zurich

Jogging in deep snow in March 2006

ZurichRännt

Also in 2023?

At the moment it doesn’t look like the year 2006 will be repeated. There will be precipitation next week, but it will most likely be too warm for snow down to low elevations. Here is the weather report.