Summertime in (Rainy) Switzerland

(view from Lutry Beach)

Summer arrived in Switzerland in fits and starts in 2012, with teasingly warm weather early in April followed by many weeks of rain and cold in the middle of June. By July the rain was coming nearly every day but was arriving via thunderstorms instead of all day drizzles, and lasting only a few hours followed by long periods of sunshine. That made things much better, but I was still shocked by how much precipitation was coming down. It was like living in a tropical rainforest, in the middle of a northern hemisphere temperate climate, on nearly the same latitude as Montreal, Canada. This was by far the rainiest summer I'd seen yet.

In between rainstorms my friends and I attempted to have BBQs and parties down by the lake. About half the time they had to be postponed or moved indoors, and the other half of the time the ground we stood on was still wet from the previous day's rain. This was in stark contrast to 2011 when BBQs began in February and carried straight on into October with not a single cancellation due to weather.

The plus side of the stormy summer was that I got many more thunderstorms than I had heard yet in Switzerland. I normally got one semi-decent storm per year, but by July of 2012 I had already gotten at least four. including one really impressive lightning-flashes-so-bright-they-wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-thunder-that-shakes-the-house storm. However, there were more rainbows during 2012 than in any other year anywhere I'd lived.

Driving between Lausanne and Neuchatel

View from St. Sulpice.

View from top of hill in Neuchatel

View from Montreux just after a giant rainstorm

View from my office on one of the usual cloudy days.

View from the Beaux Rivage in Lausanne

View form Vidy Beach

Me at Vidy Beach

View from Lutry.