Switzerland has made another new weather record in the mountains, as temperatures on New Year’s Day climbed 20 degrees Celsius on the northern side of the country’s alps for the first time ever. The new record high for January 1 is now held by the town of Delémont in Jura.
The new high temperature recorded in Delémont is 20,9 degrees, significantly higher than the old New Year’s day record weather. The previous record holder was Lucerne, with temperatures as high as 19,4 degrees recorded in January 1993.
Other Swiss cantons also saw plenty of warm weather over the New Year weekend. New highs for January were already recorded in St. Gallen's Rhine Valley and in Liechtenstein - the temperatures climbed up to 20 degrees in Vaduz and 18,5 degrees in Bad Ragaz. New records were also set in Altdorf in Uri.
While the weather is not expected to be especially cold in the coming days, many parts of Switzerland will experience a wet start to 2023. According to MeteoSwiss, the weather will get cooler as the week goes on, and many Swiss cities will see a mixture of sun, rain and cloud.
Much of the warm weather is said to be caused by warm air masses originating from near Florida in the United States. According to Blick, this phenomenon also occurred during the same period last year.