The night from Saturday to Sunday was freezing cold in Switzerland. Three weeks before the start of winter, temperatures fell to -20.6 degrees in La Brévine (NE) and to -12.9 degrees in Zurich-Kloten. The snowfall disrupted rail traffic in eastern Switzerland and Germany.
The values transmitted by Meteonews measuring stations show that the mercury fell very low overnight in the plains and elsewhere. It hasn’t been this cold in Zurich-Kloten since February 14, 2021.
The records were measured in Graubünden, with -21.1 degrees in Samedan and -22.9 in Val Calanca. The mercury also fell well below zero in the Jura and Valais, even during the day, while it remained at around 0 degrees in the Lake Geneva region.
Records in German-speaking Switzerland
Twenty-four to thirty-six hours earlier, snowfall had also reached a statistical anomaly for this time of year. 48 cm of fresh snow fell near Glarus, 28 cm in Chur and 26 cm just above Zurich.
In many places, including certain regions of western Switzerland, the snow cover is 5 to 25 cm. Several stations in German-speaking Switzerland had never measured so much fresh snow so early in the “winter season”.
![The village of Albeuve in Intyamon in Gruyère, Sunday December 3, 2023. [Nicolas Roulin - RTS]](https://www.spamchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Polar-cold-and-snow-came-to-Switzerland-on-the-first.image.jpeg "The village of Albeuve in Intyamon in Gruyère, Sunday December 3, 2023. [Nicolas Roulin - RTS]")
The village of Albeuve in Intyamon in Gruyère, Sunday December 3, 2023. [Nicolas Roulin – RTS]
Crumpled metal sheets
The difficult conditions caused a lot of crumpled metal on the streets of Zurich and Bern. The police in these two cantons reported around 200 traffic accidents between Friday and Saturday morning, 150 of them in Zurich alone. In the vast majority of cases there was only material damage. In the city of St. Gallen, 19 drivers were fined because they did not adequately clear snow from their cars.
And on the Schwagalp in Säntis (AR), the police reported around twenty drivers who had skidded on the snow-covered road over the two nights of the weekend. The 18 to 30-year-olds from several neighboring cantons committed several traffic violations, endangered other road users and ran their engines unnecessarily at full speed, which led to considerable noise pollution.
In Delémont, near Vorbourg, there was an impressive abandonment of the road on the night from Saturday to Sunday due to the degraded road. No fewer than 15 police vehicles and rescue workers had to respond after a car rolled down a ravine. Three people were injured.
Railway disruptions in eastern Switzerland
In Graubünden, snow and cold also disrupted the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) network on Sunday. On the Albula route, the section between Thoseis and Tiefencastel was interrupted due to a contact line failure.
![The snowfall disrupted rail traffic in eastern Switzerland on Sunday morning. [RTS]](https://www.spamchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701654393_573_Polar-cold-and-snow-came-to-Switzerland-on-the-first.image.jpeg "The snowfall disrupted rail traffic in eastern Switzerland on Sunday morning. [RTS]")
The snowfall disrupted rail traffic in eastern Switzerland on Sunday morning. [RTS]
The RhB announced that replacement buses had been deployed. However, until further notice there is no replacement service for the interrupted route between Davos and Filisur.
The disruptions in southern Germany are likely to last at least until Monday, Deutsche Bahn said.
ats/miro