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High temperatures just before Christmas are not uncommon, they are almost a tradition. According to SRF Meteo, the Christmas thaw occurs with a certainty of around 70 percent. Before a major chill at Christmas, temperatures rise to 17 degrees.
On Tuesday, the thermometer in Basel rose to 16.5 degrees, SRF’s weather service announced Wednesday. By Wednesday morning it was already over 15 degrees in Reigoldswil BL. In the afternoon up to 17 degrees are possible.
But all is not lost for all those who wait for a white Christmas. At Christmas, after a significant cooling, there will probably also be snow showers in the lowlands.
The trigger for the Christmas thaw is the low-pressure areas over the nearby Atlantic, which bring high temperatures in a current from south to southwest. This temporarily increases the snowfall limit from 1,500 to 2,000 meters.
In Basel and the region, snowflakes are quite possible on Christmas night, as SRF Meteo writes. But the snow hardly falls. December 25 was mostly dry.
The Last White Christmas 2010
According to SRF Meteo, the last white Christmas in Switzerland took place in 2010. But also that year, shortly before Christmas Eve, there was a short thaw. And since then not a year has passed without a classic Christmas thaw. In Germany the great thaw usually occurs between December 22 and 28, in Switzerland it is usually a little earlier.
The situation in 2015 and 2016 was very dramatic, recalls the meteorological service in its message. Even at high altitude there was hardly any snow. On Christmas Eve 2015, the depth of the snow in Davos GR was only two centimeters, a year later it was completely green. There is currently almost 40 centimeters of snow in Davos.
