Switzerland
Switzerland Geography & Climate
Geography
Switzerland is small — about 41,000 square kilometres — landlocked, and mountainous to a degree that shapes everything: where people live, how they travel, what languages they speak and why the country is organised the way it is.
Three regions
The Alps cover roughly sixty per cent of the land and hold about ten per cent of the population. The Jura, a lower limestone range along the French border, covers ten per cent. Between them runs the Mittelland, a plateau from Geneva to Lake Constance that holds two thirds of the people, the cities and almost all the farmland.
The high Alps
There are forty-eight peaks above four thousand metres, with Monte Rosa’s Dufourspitze the highest at 4,634 metres and the Matterhorn the most recognisable. The Aletsch is the largest glacier in the Alps at over twenty kilometres, and it, with the Jungfrau and the Eiger, forms a UNESCO natural World Heritage site.
Europe’s water tower
The Rhine, the Rhone, the Ticino and the Inn all rise here, draining to the North Sea, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea respectively — four of Europe’s major river systems from one small country. There are around 1,500 lakes; Geneva and Constance are the largest.
Retreating ice
Swiss glaciers have lost roughly half their volume since 1930 and the retreat has accelerated sharply. Some ski areas have closed, permafrost thaw is destabilising high rock faces, and in 2023 a border with Italy was redrawn because the watershed it followed had moved.
Passes and tunnels
The Gotthard, Simplon and Great St Bernard passes have carried traffic across the Alps for centuries. The Gotthard Base Tunnel, opened in 2016 at 57 kilometres, is the longest and deepest rail tunnel in the world.
Climate Patterns
Switzerland’s climate is decided by height rather than by position. The rule of thumb is a drop of about six degrees for every thousand metres, which means a single day can move between three distinct climates.
The plateau
Zurich, Bern and Basel have a temperate central European climate: summers around 25°C with thunderstorms, winters near freezing with occasional snow, and a good deal of grey, low cloud in November and December. Fog can sit on the Mittelland for days while the mountains above are in sunshine — which is exactly why the Swiss go up.
The Alps
Cold and snowy from November to April above fifteen hundred metres, with the highest resorts holding snow into May. Summers are short and cool, and above three thousand metres it can snow in any month. Weather changes fast and afternoon thunderstorms in July and August are routine.
Ticino
South of the Alps the climate turns almost Mediterranean: mild winters, hot summers, palm trees on the lakeshore at Lugano and Locarno, and the highest rainfall totals in the country, which arrive as heavy downpours rather than drizzle.
The föhn
A warm, dry wind that falls down the northern side of the Alps, raising temperatures by ten degrees or more in hours, clearing the air to startling visibility, and blamed locally for headaches and bad tempers. It is also a fire risk and can close airports.
A warming picture
Switzerland has warmed roughly twice the global average. Glacier loss is the visible consequence; heatwaves in the cities and shorter, less reliable snow seasons below two thousand metres are the practical ones.