Days of high temperatures and clear skies were brought to a dramatic end on Monday evening, with over 70.000 bolts of lightning reported in Switzerland overnight. The sudden violent storm caused significant damage in Canton Bern, closing rail lines and forcing some residents to evacuate.
According to MeteoSwiss, practically the whole of Switzerland was hit by violent thunderstorms on the night of August 12. Meteorologists reported over 70.000 lightning strikes in one night alone, alongside up to 50 millimetres of rain per hour and wind speeds of over 90 kilometres an hour.
The most dramatic weather was reported in Canton Bern, particularly around Lake Brienz and Interlaken. In Brienz itself, the small mountain stream that passes through the town, the Mülibach, turned into a raging torrent. This led to the evacuation of 70 people as homes, roads and railways were swamped with mud and water. Though no one is missing, the incident left two people injured and the area remains off-limits to all but the emergency services.
Thanks to the storm, roads in Aargau and Uri have also been closed temporarily. Regarding public transport, the rail route between Meiringen and Interlaken Ost was flooded by the storm - rail replacement buses are active until services are restored at midnight on Tuesday - while the line between Spiez and Interlaken Ost was temporarily suspended.
Mountain railways were also affected: the rail line between Grindelwald and Interlaken will only reopen in the early hours of August 14. The severity of the storm also caused multiple delays to flights in and out of Zurich Airport, with a handful of services having to divert to Milan and Stuttgart.
Looking ahead, MeteoSwiss has predicted that the weather in Switzerland will calm down from August 13 onwards. However, rain showers and thunderstorms are still predicted in the mountains on Tuesday evening, with cantons Valais, Ticino and Graubünden particularly affected.
Sadly for those beginning to dislike the sweltering weather, the thunderstorms are not expected to cool conditions down for long. Temperatures are expected to rise to between 30 and 34 degrees celsius in Swiss cities by Friday, before rainfall forces the mercury back down to a more manageable 25 degrees.