Weather More than 50 millimetres of rain fell locally due to thunderstorms

There were several thunderstorms in Switzerland on Monday evening. Locally, more than 50 millimeters of rain fell. The heaviest rain showers were in Emmental and Simmental in the canton of Bern.

The largest amount of precipitation was measured in Langnau im Emmental - with 54.2 millimetres of rain, as can be seen on the MeteoSwiss weather service website. It rained 48.3 millimetres in the last 24 hours on the Napf on the border of the cantons of Bern and Lucerne and in Boltigen BE in the Simmental.

For comparison: according to the weather service Meteonews, 120 liters per square meter fell within 24 hours during the devastating storm in Misox in mid-June. In the upper Maggia Valley at the end of June, rainfall of 200 liters per square metre was measured. This corresponds to 120 and 200 millimetres respectively.

Hail in the Bernese Oberland

Hailstones up to three centimetres in size were recorded in Spiez BE on Monday evening. The thunderstorm cell moved from the Jaun Pass via Spiez in the direction of Habkern and dissipated north of Lake Brienz. There was widespread hail in these regions, MeteoSwiss reported at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency. According to the weather service, there was also hail in the regions of Gstaad and Adelboden.

According to MeteoSwiss, there was also hail on the border with France in the canton of Jura. Gusts of wind of almost 100 kilometers per hour were also measured in the Jura municipality of Fahy, as MeteoSwiss reported on X on Tuesday.

The highest lightning densities were also measured in the regions mentioned above. In total, the weather service recorded over 10,000 lightning discharges on Monday evening.

Train line interrupted and reopened

Due to heavy thunderstorms in the region, rail traffic between Basel and Strasbourg was temporarily suspended on Monday evening. Trains were canceled and there were delays. MeteoSwiss had declared the danger level "high" for this region. Trains ran again according to schedule from 11.27 pm.

According to MeteoSwiss, there was a considerable risk of thunderstorms on the entire northern side of the Alps on Monday evening. The showers in the north should subside on Tuesday. However, new thunderstorms are expected in the Alps and in the south in the afternoon.