The hurricane “Ciaran” hit northwestern France and southwestern England on Thursday night. One person was injured by a fallen tree. Infrastructure was severely damaged and schools remained closed. Jürg Ackermann from SRF Meteo knows whether similar squalls can be expected in Switzerland.
SRF News: Does Switzerland also have to expect gusts of wind?
Jürg Ackermann: Switzerland is basically only affected at the edge of hurricane “Ciarán”. The low gave us a pressure drop on the north side of the Alps, which caused very strong foehn in the Alpine valleys. For example, there were gusts of 114 km/h in Meiringen.
There was also a real foehn storm in the Alpine valleys. The temperatures rose to almost 19 degrees. The wind will otherwise be crucial for higher areas mainly until the night. For example in the Jura, on the foothills of the Alps and Alpine peaks.
The gusts in Switzerland are not comparable to the force of the gusts in Brittany.
It is currently still quiet in the lowlands. The rain that arrived with the cold front has a stabilizing effect. For the most part, the wind does not reach the flatlands during the day. However, faster gusts are possible in the western Mittelland and near the Jura, with wind speeds of up to 60 km/h. However, these gusts are not comparable to the force of the squalls on Thursday morning in Brittany.
Will there be gusts of over 100 km/h?
On the Jura peaks, foothills of the Alps and Alpine peaks the wind can reach speeds of up to 100 km/h. However, these regions are not heavily inhabited. That’s why the wind won’t cause much damage there. In the Jura valleys, the strongest wind gusts will be up to 80 km/h.
Legend:
The storm “Ciaran” hit the southwest of England on Thursday night. Wind speeds of up to 164 km/h were measured.
PA/Andrew Matthews
Will the infrastructure also be damaged?
Probably not. In the Jura valleys, individual branches of deciduous trees could possibly break off. There will probably be no major damage to the infrastructure in the Mittelland. Unless you are in an extremely exposed location on a hill, there is nothing else to worry about. However, when leaving the house in the Jura, a rain cover will serve better than an umbrella.
What will it look like in the next few days? Is winter already coming?
The weather will remain dominated by low pressure until further notice. On Thursday evening the snowfall line drops to around 1500 m above sea level. This means that there is already snow on the highest Jura peaks. The snowfall line will drop even lower on Friday night. Then snowflakes could even start at 900 m above sea level. in the central and eastern foothills of the Alps. There will be an onset of winter on Friday night, especially in the canton of Graubünden. From around 1200 m above sea level 15 to 50 cm of fresh snow must be expected.
At the moment there is no sign of an onset of winter in the lowlands.
Otherwise it will be drier on Friday. A new low will arrive on Saturday, which will cause another foehn storm in the Alps and will also bring wind gusts of 70 km/h in the lowlands on Sunday. On Monday night another cold front arrives and the snowfall limit then drops to 1500 m above sea level. So at the moment it doesn’t look like there will be an onset of winter in the lowlands. It remains changeable and windy.
The interview was conducted by Lea Stadelmann.