Switzerland heading for a new summer heat record

The summer of 2026 is on course to become one of the hottest ever measured in Switzerland. Nineteen measuring stations have already exceeded their own heat records during the season.

The most telling figure comes from Visp, where tropical days, those with temperatures above 30 degrees, numbered almost fifty. It is an absolute record for the town. The highest number of tropical days was recorded in Visp, Basel-Binningen, Neuchâtel and Chur.

On Tuesday new highs were reached in several places. Locarno recorded 34.6 degrees and Lugano 34. Lucerne stopped at 34.2 degrees, Elm at 29.9 and Davos at 27.4.

The comparison with 2003

MeteoSwiss places the current summer at least on a par with the record summer of 2003. The weather service notes that 2003 was an extreme exception, but that events of that kind are becoming more likely as the climate warms.

The hot spell is not yet over. On the northern side of the Alps high temperatures are expected to persist until 5 August, while south of the Alps the heat is forecast to last until the 7th.

Heat alerts and bans on lighting fires are in force in several areas, because of extreme drought conditions.

According to MeteoSwiss, 2026 will rank among the warmest years since measurements began. The figure concerns the year as a whole and not only the summer months.

For Italian-speaking Switzerland the readings in Lugano and Locarno confirm a familiar position. The region south of the Alps remains the one where heatwaves last longest, and this season the alert there extends two days beyond the northern side.