Weather in Switzerland: There is a thick layer of snow in southern Ticino

Ticino sinks in the snow

Currently there is a thick layer of snow in Ticino. The white was noticeable in road and rail traffic. According to the cantonal police, the A2 motorway was covered in snow in the morning.

There was 16 centimeters of snow in Lugano Monday morning, as Meteoschweiz meteorologist Daniel Murer said at the request of Keystone-SDA. It was 11 centimeters each in Locarno-Monti and in Camedo in Centovalli. In Airolo, north of the canton, 11 centimeters of snow fell, in San Bernardino in Misox it was 20 centimeters.

The white blanket shouldn’t disappear as fast as Murer said. Because in the coming days, higher temperatures would hardly be expected in the sunniest part of Switzerland.

According to the Ticino canton police, the entire Ticino section of the A2 between Chiasso and Airolo was covered in snow on Monday morning. Police advised motorists to be careful. The Monte Ceneri pass was temporarily closed to heavy traffic. The A13 in southern Grisons was also covered in snow.

Snow also hampered train traffic. Information on rail traffic reported deterioration for the Chiasso-Bellizona, Chiasso-Como (I) and Mendrisio-Varese (I) routes due to heavy snowfall.

Very windy at night

Before that, a foehn storm in Switzerland had made for a windy night. 137 km / h were measured at the Chasseral and 117 km / h at Altdorf.

In western Switzerland, wind gusts reached 130 kilometers per hour at La Dôle in the Vaudois Alps, while in Moléson, in the south of the canton of Friborg, they reached 124 kilometers per hour. But the wind was also blowing strongly in Graubünden and reached 119 km / h in Piz Martegnas. At Altdorf UR it was 107 km / h.

Hermione let the temperatures rise significantly in some places Sunday night. According to MeteoNews, there was a strong southwest wind of about 10 degrees in Basel and 6 to 9 degrees in the Alpine valleys. In regions with little wind, temperatures stayed just below freezing.

The new week begins with snow, rain, but also with sun, as SRF Meteo writes on its Internet portal.

Great risk of avalanches

In the Bernese Alps, in central Switzerland to the Graubünden Mountains, there is a high level 4 avalanche hazard, as reported by the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) on its website. The southern foehn heavily carried the fresh snow.

New drifting snow accumulations could be triggered very easily. Spontaneous avalanches are expected, especially at night. In some places, avalanches could break out in old snow. The places prone to avalanches are particularly on the northern slopes above 2000 meters.

Some of the avalanches can be significant. A lot of experience in avalanche risk assessment and great containment are required. On Monday night and during the day, precipitation falls from time to time towards the lower elevations. Only in the foehn areas on the north central and eastern slopes of the Alps does it remain largely dry. (sda)