Where the sun has shone the most and the least so far this year

During the cold season, the ‘gray swamp’ embraces the Swiss towns and cities with its misty splendor – fake news! Not this year! In some regions, Meteo Switzerland recorded above-average hours of sunshine in the first two months of 2024. The foggy weather largely disappeared in the new year.

Here you can get an overview of where the sunniest days were in January and February.

In January, the gray haze did not occur even in normally foggy cities. Climatologist Stephan Bader from Meteo Switzerland uses an example to illustrate the rare foggy weather:

So there was no fog, but rainy weather was expected in many places. But it wasn’t just the rain that characterized the first two months of the year. According to Bader, there were above-average sunshine periods on the central plateau. The climatologist Watson says:

Regionally, Ticino had the sunniest days in January. In Biasca in Ticino the temperature limit of 20 degrees was already exceeded on January 25. However, no city in Ticino took first place for the most hours of sunshine. The sun shone most often in the village of Vicosoprano, located in the Bergell Valley in Graubünden.

In northeastern Switzerland, people saw the least amount of sun in January. Especially the people from the village of Altenrhein in the canton of St.Gallen and from the village of Güttingen in the canton of Thurgau rarely had the opportunity to enjoy the sun.

In the graph below you can see which places enjoyed the most hours of sunshine in January. The figures in the graph show the relationship between the monthly total and the maximum possible sunshine duration in percent. Climatologist Stephan Bader explains the value as follows:

Developments over the past ten years show that the values ​​vary greatly from year to year. In 2022 all values ​​were very high, but last year there was much less sunshine. This year the values ​​have risen again. But they will not reach the record year of 2022.

The month of February was slightly less sunny. The Swiss weather was mixed with precipitation and cloudy skies. This is how the meteo-climatologist describes the weather in February:

Sunny weather reached southern Switzerland in February. Wallis had the most hours of sunshine. Sunny days were especially common in the Valais village of Mottec, near Val d’Anniviers. The sun also continued to shine in Evionnaz and Zion.

The residents of the Canton of Jura from the small village of Fahy had to deal with the cloudy weather in February. The sun was also rare in Möhlin (canton Aargau).

An overview of the most hours of sunshine in February can be found here:

Last year’s values ​​of the places with the most or least hours of sunshine in February 2024 differ greatly from each other. Compared to 2023, the sun in February this year is not as frequent as last year. Strong fluctuations in the number of sunshine hours are visible, especially in Grächen.