Though storm Éowyn didn’t bring the same damage and high winds to Switzerland as it did in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the cyclone did send temperatures skyward across the country. MeteoSuisse has now confirmed that January 25 was one of the warmest January days ever seen in the alpine nation.
As the storm passed over northern Europe leaving devastation in its wake, Éowyn wrapped Switzerland in a warm blanket thanks to a stream of hot Foehn wind. As a result, on January 25 multiple temperature records fell across the country.
In Geneva, residents bathed in temperatures as high as 18,1 degrees celsius, the hottest January day recorded in the city since 1920. Records also tumbled across the Romandie, from Nyon (17,7 degrees) and Pully (15,6 degrees) to Payerne in Canton Vaud (15,7 degrees). Even in La Chaux-de-Fonds at 1.000 metres above sea level, locals were able to enjoy a 13,3 degree day in the midst of winter.
In German-speaking Switzerland Kloten, Canton Zurich, reported the second warmest January day since records began in 1864, with a reading of 16 degrees on Saturday. Zurich itself enjoyed 15,1-degree-warmth, while the 16,2-degree reading in St. Gallen broke its January record.
Arguably the most dramatic warmth was felt in the Swiss mountains, where most ski resorts experienced temperatures above freezing. The snowline also rose to 1.700 metres above sea level - though some stations above 2.000 metres reported the mercury rising to 5 degrees.
Looking ahead, scattered sunshine and heavy rain will dominate the weather in Switzerland at the start of the week. Temperatures will remain between 5 and 10 degrees in cities, dropping to around freezing in the mountains.
This rainfall will be accompanied by falling temperatures by Thursday, when some places may see the return of fog. By the weekend, things will remain cold, with scattered sunshine and clouds rolling throughout the country.
Though the high temperatures felt across Switzerland on the weekend were caused by an isolated storm, some experts note that rising global temperatures are set to make severe weather events like Éowyn all the more likely. Hayley Fowler, a climate expert from Newcastle University, told the Science Media Centre that “climate change is making storms like Éowyn more frequent, with more intense wind speeds and much higher rainfall amounts.”
University of Oxford professor Tim Palmer partly agreed, adding that while it is likely that “climate change has intensified Storm Éowyn somewhat”, it can be a challenge to label the phenomenon as responsible for the severity of one storm over another. “This is an area of ongoing research where the development of high-resolution climate models is proving vital,” he concluded.
The fact that people across Switzerland awoke to double-digit temperatures in the middle of January is also likely to spur debates around the Environmental Responsibility Initiative - which would require the country to cut its CO2 emissions by up to 90 percent in just 10 years. Citizens are due to head to the polls to vote on the plan on February 9.