Alarming satellite images reveal the full extent of the drought

Here's what it's all about

• Swiss agriculture is suffering from extreme heat and drought.
• For years now, summers in Switzerland have mostly been hot and dry.
• Satellite images show just how dry 2026 is compared to 2025.

Summary created with

The ongoing heat and drought are taking a heavy toll on Swiss agriculture. So far, about 1,100 farms have reported drought damage to Schweizer Hagel Insurance.

Dry summers are nothing new in Switzerland. The following images in the slider show just how severely the heat and lack of rainfall are drying out farmland in the Swiss Mittelland.

The slider on the left shows the situation in the summer of 2025; the same area appears much browner when the slider is moved to the right. The images are from Gäu SO, the Bernese Seeland, Lake Neuchâtel, and Lausanne.

A great deal of produce is grown in the Bernese Seeland region. The situation for producers is tense. The light-brown areas indicate soil that has dried out and become rock-hard.

The view of Lake Neuchâtel is also dramatic. Almost all that can be seen around Switzerland’s largest body of water, which lies entirely within the country, is brown.

The farmland north of Lausanne was already dry by 2025. By the summer of 2026, only a few patches of trees remain green.