The avalanche season is now well underway in Switzerland. Until 9 January 2016, there had been only one victim for the season, which officially started on 1 October 2015. Now after the weekend there are five. The average death toll per season is around 25. Last season was worse than normal and claimed 35 lives in Switzerland. The […]
Swiss avalanche deaths
On Saturday 16 January 2016, two free riders died in an avalanche in Riddes/La Tzoumaz, one of the valleys in “Four Valleys” ski domain that includes Verbier. According to Valais police, a call for help was made at 14:30 by a third party who reported that four people had been swept away in an avalanche. Several helicopters […]
Why there has been so little snow in the Swiss Alps this December
A Meteo Suisse spokesperson told Le Matin “there is no doubt that this is the hottest month since records started in 1864, especially at altitude”, while RTS reported that this December is set to be an average of 3.5 degrees above normal and the hottest since 1864. The previous December-record dates from 1868. In addition, 2015 has […]
Big rise in Swiss carbon tax from 1 January 2016
Swiss law requires big reductions in CO2 emissions by 2020. Reductions are below target, so from 1 January 2016 the government is increasing the tax from CHF 60 to CHF 84 per tonne of CO2 emitted as allowed by law. In particular, those who heat with gas and oil will pay more in 2016. Electricity […]
Switzerland slides to 14th place in climate change performance
Last week while climate talks were going on in Paris, the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) of Switzerland published a note lamenting Switzerland’s slide from 10th to 14th place in the Climate Change Performance Index. Switzerland however, had lower emissions than all but one of the countries ahead of it in the ranking. Luxembourg, one place […]
Switzerland’s coldest places are not where you’d expect
If you woke up in Switzerland on Tuesday morning to find temperatures of -5 or -10 outside, then you are living somewhere relatively warm. According to Meteo Centrale, whose website lists the 20 coldest places every night, winter has truly arrived in Switzerland. Eleven of the places in Meteo Centrale’s top 20 coldest sit at altitudes above […]
Swiss temperatures set to plummet
The latest weather forecasts show Swiss temperatures falling abruptly ahead of this weekend. The Meteo Swiss website is showing a high of 17 degrees celsius for Geneva and Zurich today. By the weekend winter will have arrived with temperatures dropping sharply on Friday night. By Sunday the high in both Zurich and Geneva will be 5 degrees, […]
Switzerland’s 117 metre vertical forest
In 2017 a vertical forest will begin to rise from a building site located in Chavannes in west Lausanne. The tower will rise to a maximum of 117 metres and be covered with trees equivalent to around one hectare of forest. The tower’s designer is Milan-based architect Stefano Boeri. Already in Milan Two similar towers, […]
Much higher risk of childhood leukaemia near highways
A Swiss study released yesterday shows the health risks of living near a highway. The study by the Bern based Institute of Social and Preventative Medicine (ISPM) found that young children living less than 100m from a highway are at a substantially higher risk of leukaemia. Traffic emissions contain known carcinogens, such as benzene and […]
The Chinese city with the same life expectancy as Switzerland
For many, modern China evokes images of smog. A study published in the Lancet last week, shows that despite the negative health impacts of this pollution, life expectancy in China has shot up hugely since 1990. So much so that some provinces are close to global life expectancy leaders Switzerland and Japan. Nationally, China’s average […]
