switzerland weather help please!
 

Hello,

We are traveling to Saas Fee next week and I'm trying to get a handle on the weather. I've seen reports on three different websites... Two indicate highs in the upper 40s to 50s and one shows highs in the 80s. I'm hoping for the 80s, but I'd really like to find a reliable site if anyone knows of one. The 80s seem more in line with what I have read the weather SHOULD be, but I know things are always a gamble in the mountains.

Thanks!
Hacsutton

The (official) Swiss weather forecast predicts sunny and warm weather for next week. Maybe some more clouds and a bit of rain (showers) on the weekend. Temps in the village 20 Celsius (don't know in F).

If I recall correctly you want to do some moderate hikes. The temps at 3000 m are usually 7-9 Celsius less than in the village. But with that forecast you better bring sun screen (sun protection factor 25 or more!)

Enjoy!

I live in Switzerland and we are having a generally cool and rainy summer so far, which is much more typical of Swiss summer weather than the last two summers which were very hot and dry. Historically, it would be hard to get temps in the 80s F in Saas Fee, but you may luck out. Generally I think you will find them in the 60s to low 70s if it is sunny. I would be prepared by dressing in layers for cool and wet weather, and if you get a hot day, peel off as appropriate. As noted above, it will be cooler in higher elevations.

I find the weather here to be very changeable, if you don't like it wait 5 minutes. . . .the weather websites are very unreliable, IMO (as they are in most of the world), fro example on Tuesday they were predicting cold and rainy in Zurich for the weekend, and today they are predicting sunny and in the low 80s F. I would not put a lot of faith in those forecasts. For historical average temps and rainfall in most places in the world, go to worldclimate.com and weatherbase.com.

I spent a week in Saas Fee, but in September and we rarely saw the sun. By going in August, I hope you catch the summer sun. It mostly depends which way the wind is blowing.
Clouds develop when the wind hits the upslope of the Alps. 28 degrees C in Saas Grund would be a heat wave!!

We were fortunate in that the clouds were not so low that we could not see the top of the Dom, which reaches almost to 15,000 feet. It towers about 10,000 feet above the floor of the valley at Saas Grund. It is an incredible escarpment because it rises seemingly straight up for that distance.

We took a cable lift up to a view point on the side the valley, and then hiked higher. Even after that gain in elevation, the white expanse of the Dom still towered so far above us that it seemed like we had not gone upwards at all.

The hiking trails in that part of the world are either flat along the floor of the valley, or seemingly straight up and down. I know we descended the Gemsweg and I had to come down some of it backwards for fear of slipping. Off to the side, it was a case of watch out for that first step, its a long one.

The mounains are absolutely awesome along the sides of that whole valley because they rise so steeply and so high. The relief of the terrain is tremendous.

Thanks everyone for the responses. Much appreciated. And, yes Ingo, we are going hiking so I appreciate the added info.

Thanks again!
Hacsutton