November could be the hottest in Switzerland since the start of official measures in 1864. Added to that it has hardly rained for about four weeks north of the Alps. Many ski resorts will postpone opening due to lack of snow.

Average temperatures in the first half of the month were between 3 and 7 degrees, well above average for the month of November, according to SF Meteo on Wednesday.

The values ​​were extreme in places: it was 24.1 degrees in Glarus on the 5th November, the highest recorded temperature in the region since 1958. The outlook is for more of the same over next week although the weather service won’t make predictions much beyond.

The mild weather has been made worse by near drought conditions. The latest heavy rains north of the Alps date back to October 19, according to SF Meteo. In November, only a few liters per square meter fell here and there in western Switzerland and has yet not rained in several locations across the Sarine (districts around Fribourg). And no precipitation is expected this week.

“The combination of mild temperatures and drought this season is amazing,” according to snow and avalanche expert Robert Bolognesi, in an interview published Wednesday in the newspaper “Le Temps”.

Lack of snow

The tourism industry is suffering. In some places, snow canons, increasingly used by the stations cannot even work at night as temperatures do not fall below zero. They have only been used above 3000 meters.

Some ski resorts will now open later than expected. Verbier, which is usually the first to start the season in Valais, has postponed its opening to December 3-4 at the earliest.

In the Sarine, lifts ​​at Andermatt (UR) should have started on November 12, but the season will start at the earliest on November 26. At Davos (GR), where temperatures exceed 9 degrees during the day, the season start has been delayed by a week to November 26.  However Saas-Fee and Zermatt already has 50km of open runs.

Robert Bolognesi, the rains over the summer have not replaced the lack of rainfall this spring. “We’re going to break records, this year is a historic drought, especially in the central Valais.”

Sion recorded a record low with only 300 mm of rainfall in 2011, against 700 mm annual average. Below 250 mm, it is considered to be a “desert”. In this region, it could still rain the next few weeks, but “it would take a flood to compensate for the lack of water by the end of the year.”

Consequences: the dry and hot year has worsened the retreat of glaciers with no snow cover to protect them. The smallest south facing glaciers can no longer regenerate and could disappear in about thirty years, warns Robert Bolognesi. Without the natural storage of water in dams, “the whole ecology and economy of the region would be disrupted during a year like we just experienced.”

http://www.tsr.ch/info/suisse/3588158-chaleur-et-secheresse-inquietent-les-stations-de-ski.html

It really is amazing. I barely remember any rain here (Nyon, Switzerland) this year apart from a spell in July. It pretty much didn’t rain from January to June, and then from August until now. The ground is hard like concrete even in the forests, when usually fall is grey, wet and muddy. Weather forecasters have a pretty easy time right now. Every day is the same… Foggy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. Not a cloud in sight. I wonder why my car has windshield wipers...?!?

I guess the one positive note are the fantastic wines the region will produce this year!

alpanian - 17 November 2011 10:52 AM

I wonder why my car has windshield wipers...?!?

something to hold parking tickets?

davidof - 17 November 2011 09:30 AM

The tourism industry is suffering. In some places, snow canons, increasingly used by the stations cannot even work at night as temperatures do not fall below zero. They have only been used above 3000 meters.

I can’t deny that it’s a worry for the winter but the weather’s been fantastic for our B&B business. October was was our busiest month and we were full pretty much all the time, I think we had one night off. It’s foggy down on the plateau now and glorious up here. We had people here at the weekend who were sat outside Sunday afternoon on deck-chairs sunbathing.

We’ll probably do fine as long as it’s nicer to be up here than it is down in the valley

I saw the photos:-

https://plus.google.com/u/0/ of the Epicea and it looks great. I’ve been enjoying the warm autumn weather, it has let me get a lot of house maintenance jobs done which I didn’t manage last autumn as well as do some walking before the winter comes.

With the population aging in general in Europe it will be bad for lift operators but maybe B&B’s and walking activities like your own will pick up more trade.

thanks for the plug

You get a mixed picture talking to people around the village, after I posted earlier I was out talking to some other local businesses about our winter program and they say different things. One of the gear shops was saying it had been a weak summer and I’d agree with that, it was damp in July and August wasn’t great as the exchange rate kept foreigners away while the Swiss took cheap holidays abroad. But by September the Swiss came back for long weekends and the weather just got better & better, October was amazing, great walking, climbing and biking. Great for us but I can’t imagine the gear shop did great.

Not that I’m panicing or anything (much!) but just wondered if any number crunchers out there knew whether there has ever been a season where it didn’t snow? Hopefully not, but just curious. To be honest if the Grand Massif hadn’t had the large dump it had in mid December last year, it would have been unskiable as very little fell after that.
Am planning my annual visit to the ski test at the Avoriaz opening weekend on Dec 10/11th so fingers crossed.

Some more of the Indian Summer from up on the glacier at Les Diablerets this morning.