I'm one of those guys who lets his hair grow a bit floppy and messy but due to the apparent lack of a real winter, i opted to get it cut yesterday as i shall not be needing the winter fur this year.

My girlfriend picked me up from work this evening and the car thermometer read 16deg C. No, it's not kaput as the local radio weather forcast also gave the temperature as 16deg. It is the middle of January and there has not been any significant snow where i live (Luzern), and now it's like a Scottish summer at 23.30 at night.

The weather has gone slightly el loco on us. Pilatus (the local mountain in LU) has only a mere smattering of snow and wearing woolly jumpers, hats and scarves is just insane in current conditions. Surely it should be -16deg at this time of year.

In the future, i'll be able to say to any kids that i may have "that we used to go skiing on those mountains there"

Is this winter just a freak show, or is this how things are going to be in the future with global warming ?

Winter is coming here next Thursday - it went to California by mistake...

I would say don't expect to get away with this. We're going to be smacked HARD upside the head very shortly, in my opinion. Be ready to shovel snow and crank that heating up

It's only been warm for, what, 2 weeks?

We were out and about around New Year and the car thermometer was -6.

Of course, you're really taking about snow I guess...

It has been unseasonably warm for well over a month now. The weather has been running about two months behind. Spring birds are chirping. Spring flowering trees are blooming. Bears aren't hibernating. Birds aren't migrating.

Thanks el Nino, we appreciate it!

evilshell >>> That's what I'm on about. It's hardly rained since August, September and October were tastefully warm and sunny (on average) and the winter months of November and December have just not been "as it should be".

I walk to work beside a stream, usually in winter the ducks move to the stream from the Vierwaldstattersee and i like to take old bread to feed them with. This year the ducks are not there as it's warm enough in the lake and they must have plenty food.

I don't know if i agree with Lob Rockster about winter coming to hit us hard, i think instead that summer might be long hot and torturous with temperatures of +40deg.

I think this may be my fault. I went to the sahara, and it rained, I went to Spain in August to get married and it rained. I come to Zurich hopeful of a season of skiing and ....no snow. Every where I go I mash up the weather.


Sorry.

I'm not complaining - I grew up where blizzards are common, so this is a treat for me! But please tell me you are hoping for a blazing hot summer in Switzerland, as I am not looking forward to the predicted hot and dry summer for this year...

1.) In the Northeast of the US (New York, New England, etc) there has basically been no winter as well. The weather pattern is in the middle of change there, winter is arriving...

2.) Along those lines -- the pattern that impacts the northeast is exactly the same that impacts Switzerland. The weather over Greenland and Iceland is changing -- so get ready for some winter.

"Am Montag meist stark bewölkt und zuerst in den Alpen etwas Schnee, gegen Abend auch nördlich davon einsetzender Niederschlag, Schneefallgrenze 500-800 Meter. Am Dienstag wahrscheinlich häufig Schneefall. Mit Bise um null Grad.
Am Mittwoch am Alpennordhang zeitweise Schnee, sonst veränderlich und kalt, um -1 Grad.
Am Donnerstag zum Teil sonnig und kalt, in den Niederungen Bise und Hochnebelfelder."

On Monday mostly cloudy and a bit of snow in the Alps during the evening, with the snow limit of 500-800 meter. On Tuesday fairly steady snow at all levels with the Bise (wind from the north) and a high of 0 C. On Wednesday occasional snow showers, otherwise changeable and -1 C. Thursday partly sunny and cold, with "Bise" and a low cloud deck over lower elevations.

I nearly didn't see this. Can you use the quote feature when you're replying to someone - helps to make it stick out and also keeps things in context

And don't forget August was more like October, weather-wise. Weird stuff, they are blaming it on el Nino, not global warming, though.

I've heard winter will come, but I don't think it will hit hard...we'll have to see. I live in fear of the predicted brutally hot summer though. My first summer here was 2003, which was absolute hell. No air conditioning and 40+ degree days for weeks = hell.

It's not just the last month or so that it's been warmer than normal. 2006 was the warmest year in more than a century in Germany (deutsche welle article), and I expect that Switzerland was not too different from that.

However, one can adapt to the conditions, and so I took advantage of the odd weather and went for a great bike ride today instead of skiing.

Remember last winter when we were all complaining about how bloody cold it was and how much snow was around..... I do think that winter will come and bite us in the bum now that we are not expecting it. Mother Nature usually balances things out.

That wind last week really messed up my hair.

I certainly wasn't complaining last year when we got dumped on, I had more powder days than any other year, it was a great ski season!

I,m informed by my weather guru that it's on the way. 10 days or less!!
He uses chicken bones and is never wrong!

Hey, I thought it was me messing it up!

I love snow and have constantly moaned about the fact my eight year old daughter has never really seen a "proper" fall, one where it covers he grass.

i thought coming out here to work each week would at least guarantee that I would see some this winter, especially when my Swiss colleagues were talking about the amazing falls they had last winter.

So what happens? Not only have my family woken up more time to freshly fallen snow than I have (it's currently Zurich 1 v 2 Hertfordshire with injury time being played), but I ended up missing seeing the looks on my kids faces when they finally did see "proper" snow for the first time