Average Annual Snowfall in Switzerland

The tables below give annual averages for snowfall at cities, resorts and mountains in Switzerland. Each place has a total for how many days of fresh snow it usually gets in a year and for the normal amount of snowfall.

The calculation of days only includes the days when new snow totalled at least one centimetre (0.4 inches).

The total snowfall is an average of weather data collected during 1981 to 2010.

You can jump to a separate table for each part of the country: Eastern, Western, Central and Northern Switzerland.

Western Switzerland

This section covers the mainly French speaking portion of Switzerland. It includes the area around Lake Geneva and the cantons of Fribourg, Geneva, Jura, Neuchâtel, Valais and Vaud. Some of the weather stations are at high elevations in the Valais (or Pennine) Alps of southwestern Switzerland.

Average total snowfall in a year
Days Place Inches Centi­metres
14 Biel / Bienne 20.4 51.7
50 Evolène 122.6 311.5
16 Fribourg 24.7 62.7
8 Geneva (Genève) 12.6 32.1
35 Grächen 87.5 222.2
45 La Chaux-de-Fonds 113.1 287.4
10 Lausanne 13.8 35.1
47 Montana 171.6 435.8
13 Neuchâtel (Neuenburg) 18.0 45.6
11 Payerne 15.5 39.4
8 Sion (Sitten) 17.5 44.5
40 Zermatt 103.9 263.8

Central & Northern Switzerland

Most places on this list are below 1000 metres (3280 feet) elevation where the weather is relatively mild. Somewhat snowier are the ski resort villages of Adelboden in the Bernese Oberland and Engelberg in Obwalden canton.

The site here with the most extreme snowfall is the mountain peak Säntis, near Schwägalp. At 2502 metres (8209 feet) elevation it's the highest point in the Appenzell Alps.

Annual averages for total snowfall
Days Place Inches Centi­metres
11 Aarau 16.6 42.2
53 Adelboden 166.2 422.2
11 Basel 14.5 36.9
14 Bern (Bären) 20.7 52.6
48 Engelberg 163.1 414.3
17 Interlaken 35.5 90.2
15 Lucerne (Luzern) 26.0 66.0
123 Säntis 438.7 1114.4
19 Schaffhausen 22.5 57.2
32 St. Gallen 78.0 198.2
15 Zürich 22.1 56.2

Eastern Switzerland

This list includes two low-elevation cities, Locarno and Lugano, in the canton of Ticino of south-east Switzerland.

Several places here in the canton of Graubünden are mountain resort towns, including Davos, Scuol and Samedan, which sit above 1500 metres (4921 feet) elevation. On Weissfluhjoch, a peak in the Plessur Range above Davos, weather is reported from just below the summit, at 2690 metres (8825 feet) elevation.

Average amount of snow annually
Days Place Inches Centi­metres
88 Arosa 284.5 722.6
17 Chur 40.0 101.7
69 Davos 184.3 468.0
52 Disentis / Sedrun 150.3 381.7
22 Glarus 47.5 120.6
7 Locarno 18.5 47.0
4 Lugano 10.3 26.1
50 Samedan 100.3 254.8
51 San Bernardino 205.4 521.7
35 Scuol 79.2 201.2
119 Weissfluhjoch 385.9 980.2
Reference

MeteoSwiss. Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA. Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology. Swiss Climate. Norm values tables.

Switzerland Snowfall
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