How time flies… Christmas is less than a week away. The guest list, the decorated tree, the gifts, the menu, everything is ready. There remains the nagging question of snow. Will it be present all the way to the plain for this 2024 edition? Like the last time in Switzerland, in 2010?
The MeteoNews site provides some answers, which do not particularly go in this direction: “Although the weather will be cooler from Friday and snow showers are possible down to low altitude on Friday, the snow will practically not settle in not on the plain. A few centimeters of fresh snow are possible in the resorts of St. Gallen and Chur.
Further precipitation is expected to affect northern Switzerland between Sunday and Monday, but its amount is expected to be low and “south-westerly winds on the plains should not allow snowflakes to reach the lowest altitudes”.
However, MeteoNews on Wednesday revised its forecast for temperatures to be “around 1 degree lower, which at times increases the likelihood of snow at lower elevations.”
On the Plateau, the agency expects snowfall amounts of one to five centimeters in many places. “But this does not mean that there will be measurable snow precisely on the dates of December 24, 25 or 26 (definition of a white Christmas). It is more likely that snow will begin to fall after a heavy downpour, but then melt with fast winds and temperatures slightly above 0 degrees. And to conclude: “It would then be rather random that there was 1 centimeter of snow on one of the measurement dates; it is more likely that there would be no snow.”
For the agency, wet snow showers can be expected most of the time, but the situation is different in the valleys of the Pre-Alps and at altitude, where we can expect the formation of a snow cover.
For hikers, it will therefore be necessary to climb a little to find snow and feel the thrill of a winter Christmas: “It will probably be white in many places up to a little less than 1000 meters,” concludes MeteoNews.
And there’s nothing stopping you from going higher, as fresh snow will fall in abundance at higher altitudes, with over a meter of powder expected in the Northern Alps between Sunday and Christmas Day. Which makes MeteoNews say that this year, there will be no “snow shortage” in the resorts, which will experience a beautiful white Christmas.
And then, the clouds are expected to shun the country over the next week: “During the end-of-year holidays, an anticyclone seems to be extending towards us from the west, so we can expect dry weather and, above all, increasing sunshine in the mountains. A perfect location for going skiing.
