More intense and frequent rains linked to climate change

Climate change has led to more intense and more frequent precipitation in Switzerland since 1901, says a study. According to the study recently published by the Federal Office of Meteorology, MeteoSwiss, the northern and southern face of the Alps and the north-eastern part of the country are most affected. This trend is rather weak in the Alps, in parts of French-speaking Switzerland, and in central and southern Ticino. MeteoSwiss took into account trends in heavy precipitation between 1901 and 2023. On average, heavy daily showers are now 11% more intense than at the beginning of the 20th century. And heavy precipitation, that occurs almost four times a year, is on average 25% more frequent than at the beginning of the last century. The study also analysed heavy rainfall lasting from ten minutes up to five days between 1981 and 2023. The intensity of short precipitation events - lasting from ten minutes (+4.7% per decade) to six hours (+2.4% per decade) - has clearly increased.