Joackiie 🇬🇱
@joackiie.bsky.social
Senior meteorologist (M. Sc.), retired 😊 Passionate about all weather and science. Hiking and skiing.
Widespread tropical night (Tmin >20°C) across Switzerland, locally >25°C ("noche tórrida") in Ticino and some northern Alpine valleys under foehn! Today's heat peaks once more.: The 300-member Super Ensemble suggests no similarly intense heat in Zurich over the next two weeks.
First look at July 2026: JRA-55 ranks it as the 3rd warmest globally, behind 2023 and 2024. In Europe it was likely the warmest July on record, especially in the west, depending on the area analysed. ERA5 maps will be available on 5 August.
Still plenty of (wildfire) haze across the Alps and much of central Europe this morning, as seen by MTG Geocolour. Although temperatures will be slightly lower today, more humid air will favour frequent local thunderstorms from the southwest. The first storms have already developed over France.
The Rhine’s discharge keeps setting new summer record lows. And we’re still only in July.
Daan van den Broek@daanvandenbroek.com · 3w ago🫗 The Rhine at Lobith has now reached its lowest discharge ever recorded *in the entire summer* (June–August).
Ash from the devastating wildfires in France is now spreading into Central Europe. The MTG satellite captures it beautifully in the low morning sun. The plume appears to be mainly at 2–3 km altitude, where Lufft ceilometers are best suited to detect it.
Wildfires west of Bordeaux and Valencia appear to have subsided ↙️, according to high-resolution Terra/MODIS imagery—but a vast smoke plume still lingers. South of the Alps, the first thunderstorms have developed, while a curious fog vortex has formed over the Mediterranean east of Perpignan 🙂
Some thundery rain has fallen over the Alpine Rhine catchment (red outline) in the past 48 hours, but level of not regulated Lake Constance remains at a record low for the 161-year Bregenz record! Fun fact: 0.8% of the Alpine Rhine's discharge originates in Italy (Valle di Lei) 😀
Cloud and wind kept last night warm north of the Alps, with a widespread tropical night across northern and eastern Switzerland, especially in Basel. Next night will be cool again under clear skies—but the next heatwave peaks on Thursday and again early next week, with highs >35° and lows of 20–25°
Not a cloud over tiny Switzerland this morning. MTG GeoColor shows contrails over northern France, wildfire smoke over south-western France ↙️, and a vast Saharan dust plume covering the western and southern Mediterranean beneath the North African heat dome.
Dry, sunny, uneventful anticyclonic weather? Not quite: With increasing cross-alpine pressure gradient⭕, strong northerly winds developed over the Alps, incl. valley of Grison+Valais. Northern foehn pushed temperatures to 33°C with RH below 20% in Ticino's Riviera, but not south of Bellinzona.
The Northern Hemisphere's lowest sea-level pressure this morning was over the North Pole: just 978 hPa. Such intense Arctic cyclones break up the sea ice with strong winds, exposing more open water and accelerating summer melt.
Thanks to the rapidly developing major El Niño event, global surface air and sea surface temperatures are approaching new record values. Typically it is the year following the event that yields new global temperature record, but it's possible we could see this year.
Michael E. Mann@michaelemann.bsky.social · 2w agoLatest "plume" of El Niño forecasts, via @climate.columbia.edu. Consensus dynamical forecast is now an HISTORICALLY STRONG max Nino3.4 ~3.0C (statistical forecasts are pointing toward still very strong ~2.5C). There is still a wide range of estimates, with some models reaching astonishing ~4.7C.
Another very sunny summer day in Switzerland (Terra/MODIS) with SKC in most areas and only a few tiny fair-weather cumulus clouds in the east and south; wildfires in Var/southern France. So far summer 2026 is Zurich's warmest on record and its 4th sunniest since automatic measurements began in 1980.
After a clear night, Switzerland woke to a cool summer morning. Frost hit classic cold spots: -5.1° at Amburnex-Combe (Jura) and -0.5° at Samedan (St. Moritz airport) - but it was there colder (-4.6°C) in late July 1986. July 2026 is still on course to be record-warm, especially in western Europe!
Cooler north-westerly air has pushed the hot, humid air south of the Alps. Under clear skies, temperatures dropped to an unusual 5°C in the Engadine and Prealpine valleys, even slight frost in the Jura! Around the unusually warm lakes much milder, Ticino and northern Italy saw another tropical night
There has been an explosion in #urbanheat monitoring using low-cost meteorological sensors. In our paper (doi.org/10.1175/BAMS...) in Bulletin of @ametsoc.org, we empirically show why we need to be careful about large biases in such sensors; & provide guidelines for their effective deployment.
Some rain has fallen across Europe since Friday morning, but topsoil moisture remains far below normal across large parts of the continent. Even so, the MODIS/Terra satellite detected only one major active wildfire at midday, northeast of Madrid.
Huge wildfires in Canada's ON & NT, and now also Oregon and Washington, are producing a vast smoke plume. It now covers Greenland and Iceland and, according to the RAP smoke model, will reach the UK and Ireland from the northwest later today.
Wildfire smoke drapes across North America and the North Atlantic. Wow.
☀️ Trotz besserer Luftqualität werden die #Ozon -Grenzwerte im Sommer weiterhin regelmässig überschritten. Unser neues #Faktenblatt erklärt die Zusammenhänge 👉 scnat.ch/de/id/UEYJH. Am 25. Juli feiert @meteoschweiz.ch in Davos zudem 100 Jahre Ozonmessungen in der #Schweiz! 🇨🇭
"Beast of Bologna": An immense cumulonimbus over northern Italy, captured by the MTG Cloud Phase RGB. Radar indicates cloud tops exceeding 14 km, while pronounced gravity waves are clearly visible, highlighting the storm's exceptional intensity.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires blankets the northeastern U.S. this morning.
First half of summer 2026 in Zurich has been the warmest on record, with four consecutive weeks of above-average temperatures—surpassing even 2025 and the iconic summer of 2003! Cooler NW air arrives by Sunday. But with the dog days (canicule) ahead: Is even more heat still to come?
Switzerland swelters today once again: highs of 30–35°C, locally 38°C in the Central Valais between Saillon and Leuk. The coming days will be less hot but more humid, with an increasing thunderstorm risk. The first half of summer 2026 has been the warmest on record in places, e.g. Zurich.
Monday morning MTG visible satellite imagery shows Saharan dust spreading across the western Mediterranean, producing the characteristic “crunchy” texture of clouds over southern France. The dust layer is also clearly visible in the Perpignan ceilometer at around 3 km altitude.
The first half of 2026 was the third warmest globally on record. Meanwhile, the developing El Niño in the tropical Pacific is only now gathering strength!
Evening MTG satellite imagery shows Saharan dust from Algeria spreading into the western Mediterranean. Dust RGB indicates the highest concentrations off Spain's east coast (purple). According to IFS-CAMS, the dust will reach the Alps on Monday. NASA GEOS forecast for northern Switzerland
Next heatwave peaks in 🇨🇭 on Tuesday (14 Jul), with potentially record-breaking temperatures at 850 hPa: If peak heat coincides with the time of Payerne sounding, the historic 25.9°C record (31 Jul 1983) could be exceeded! For nearby station Napf (06639, 1408m) MOS forecasts up to 30°C.
Very sunny across Switzerland today, with widespread SKC (sky clear) conditions. Exposed locations may still record up to 15 hours of sunshine. Localised wildfires remain active in Piedmont and southeastern France. Terra MODIS satellite image.
