Exceptional heat wave
Switzerland should live the hottest fifth summer in its history
Until August, temperatures should remain very high for one of the worst heat waves since the start of the statements.
In Geneva, as everywhere in Switzerland, workers suffer from heat.
Lucien fortunate
- Météosuisse has been planning one summer among the five warmer since 1864.
- The scorching episodes will be more and more intense.
- The south of Europe records records with 46 degrees in Spain.
- Swiss infrastructure is poorly suited to extreme heat waves.
Switzerland is sweating. Or even suffocate. The country had never been so hot in June since the heat wave in 2003. If a cold front should gradually lower the thermometer on Friday-up to 10 degrees in less by the end of the weekend-summer will remain particularly hot.
According to Isabelle Fath, forecastist in Météosuisse, “the prospects show temperatures above the standard until August, except for next week. They could climb again on July 15, ”she projects.
So that these next two months should be particularly scorching. “There is 90% chance that it is 5e the warmest since the start of the measures in 1864 (Editor’s note: behind 2003, 2022, 2015 and 2019)», Notes Isabelle Fath. Note that there is even a probability of 15% that summer 2025 becomes the hottest in history.
“The heat will get worse”
And heat records should succeed one another in the coming years. “Climate warming creates longer and more intense heat waves,” recalls Isabelle Fath.
Will extreme temperatures in recent days become the norm, in summer? “No, they will get worse. We are not going to stop there, ”warns Martine Rebez, professor at the University of Neuchâtel and scientific collaborator at the Federal Research Institute WSL. By 2060, according to Climatic scenarios For Switzerland, the thermometer could climb 5.5 degrees during the hottest days of summer.
A step back is no longer possible today, according to the researcher. “We will no longer have the weather conditions that we knew before the big climate change, that’s for sure.”
However, summers vary a lot from one year to the next. Thus, in 2024, in the absence of a strong heat wave, “it was excessive precipitation that caused significant damage”. So is it now either one or the other? “Yes, or both successively,” says Martine Rebette. The researcher regrets in passing the passivity of the decision -making spheres. “These findings should react on the consumption of oil or gas, but this is not the case. While we should very quickly prevent sales of new cars with essences and diesel, policies, disconnected, only postpone this deadline. ”
Up to 46 degrees in Spain and Portugal
In Switzerland, the record heat for June remains below the scorching temperatures noted in the south of Europe. This Monday, in France, 84 departments Of 95 were placed in orange alert – a first – while the thermometer exceeded 40 degrees in several regions. Similar temperatures are identified in Spain which, on Saturday, recorded a record of 46 degrees in Huelva, in the south of the country. A record peak since 1965 and the 45.2 degrees recorded in Seville.
In Portugal on Sunday, the thermometer displayed 46.6 ° C in Mora, a town located just over a hundred kilometers east of Lisbon. A record since 1965. In Italy, the Ministry of Health has placed on red alert 17 cities across the country, including Rome, Milan, Florence and Verona.
Less hot, but also less prepared
Despite a thermometer below record temperatures that suffocate southern Europe, the Swiss do not necessarily live the heat wave more easily. “Our populations are not used to these heat waves, unlike Portugal or Spain,” observes Martine Rebez. To which is added infrastructure – starting with the buildings – which are not suitable for the heat wave.
Also, “the organization of society is still not very suitable, even if there are changes”. She specifies her thought: “In Spain, work stops at 1 p.m. and then resumes after 4 p.m. In Switzerland, we generally continue the work in the early afternoon, regardless of temperature. ” At least, for the moment.
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