Up to 28 ° C are expected in Geneva this Friday (archives).Image: KEYSTONE
This Friday, temperatures will graze 30 ° C in Switzerland, before the return of clouds and rain. A real “heat wave” which is explained by the conjunction of two meteorological phenomena.
01.05.2025, 16:5301.05.2025, 17:02
Follow me
The sun will hit hard in the coming days in Switzerland. After a somewhat cloudy start to the week, it seems that summer made its (anticipated) arrival in our latitudes. “The hottest day will be Friday,” says Didier Ulrich, forecaster at Météosuisse.
“Summer temperatures are expected everywhere in the plain. Mercury could reach 27 ° C on the plateau and even 29 ° C in central Valais »
Didier Ulrich, Météosuisse
The whole country is concerned, Didier Ulrich evoking a “homogeneous situation” on a national scale. Thus, 28 ° C are expected in Geneva, 27 ° C in Yverdon and Bienne, and 25 ° C in Lausanne and Friborg. In Ticino and German -speaking Switzerland, the thermometer should also climb up to 27, or even 28 ° C.
Is it a lot, for the start of May? “We can not say that it is a heat wave, at least for this period of the year,” replies Didier Ulrich, who adds that temperatures could come close to records for this season.
North African hot air
This situation is explained by the conjunction of two meteorological phenomena, notes the forecastist. “Since the beginning of the week, Switzerland has experienced an anticyclonic situation which has increased temperatures up to 25 ° C,” he illustrates. To this was added a clearly warmer air current from North Africa.
“This southwest wind has come up from the Iberian Peninsula and the South of France and reached our latitudes this Thursday”
Didier Ulrich, Météosuisse
One wonders if such waves of heat will become more common in the future. According to the World Meteorological Organization (OMM), the last ten years have been the hottest ever recorded since the start of the statements, with 2024 arriving in first position.
exceptional? Not really
Also in Switzerland, the rise in temperatures is increasingly inexorable. 2024 was the hottest third year ever measured, while 2022 and 2023 ranked first and second position, respectively.
Didier Ulrich recalls that in Switzerland, the average temperature has increased by 2 ° C compared to the pre -industrial era. “This climate is therefore more conducive to heat records, which are much more frequent than cold records,” he adds.
“Such a heat wave would have been exceptional 50 years ago, it is much less so today”
Didier Ulrich, Météosuisse
And the forecastist underlines that most of the temperature records recorded during the first ten days of May took place between 2005 and 2020. Some exceptions exist, however. In Geneva and Zion, for example, the peak was observed in 1958, with 29.1 ° C and 30.1 ° C, respectively.
The return of gray
Anyway, the heat will not last, at least this time. “As often, the southwest wind rises at the front of a disturbance from the north,” reports Didier Ulrich. The latter will drop temperatures in the second part of the weekend.
“From Saturday, temperatures will start to drop and the sky will cover itself. Rights and showers are not excluded, especially on Sunday, ”adds the forecaster.
Cooling will be drastic. In Geneva, we will go from 28 ° C Friday to 16 ° C this Monday, or even a decrease of almost 50%. In most of the country, the temperature should fall by a dozen degrees in the space of three days.
