Hot spell pushes freezing line to record height in Switzerland
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Heavy clouds during a rainfall near Chateau d'Oex, in the pre-Alps in western Switzerland, on July 25.
PHOTO: AFP
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GENEVA - A hot spell enveloping Europe has pushed the zero-degree line – the altitude at which the temperature dips into the minus – to a record height of nearly 5,300m in Switzerland.
The zero-degree line is determined by meteorologists using weather balloons that take off twice a day from Payerne in western Switzerland.
MeteoSwiss said the new height was clocked overnight from Sunday to Monday at 5,298m, “which constitutes a record since monitoring began in 1954”. The new measurement puts the freezing line above the highest Swiss peak, the Dufourspitze (Dufour peak) in the Monte Rosa massif, which measures 4,634m.
The previous record of 5,184m was set on July 25, 2022.
“The area known as the zero-degree isotherm is the threshold between air layers, with temperatures above 0 deg C at lower altitudes and those with temperatures below freezing at higher altitudes,” MeteoSwiss said.
“Among other things, the zero-degree isotherm affects vegetation, the snow line and the water cycle, and so has a considerable impact on the habitats of humans, animals and plants alike,” it added, calling the marker “an integral part of weather forecasts in the Alpine region”. AFP
