Snow
Snow plays an important role in Switzerland's water cycle. Around 40% of annual runoff comes from snowmelt. From autumn to spring, precipitation in the mountains mainly falls as snow. The snow cover that builds up during this time reaches its maximum thickness between February and May and acts as a natural water reservoir. As temperatures rise in spring, the snow cover melts and the water drains away slowly. The snow cover, particularly when it melts, thus has a major influence on the discharge dynamics locally and in low areas downstream.
The Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) provides up-to-date data on snow depth, snow water equivalent and meltwater runoff, allowing estimations of the amount of water released during snowmelt to be made. These data are included to assess the drought situation in Switzerland.
The snow water equivalent indicates how much water is stored in the snow cover. It corresponds to the water column that would result if the snow were to melt. The current snow situation in Switzerland can be viewed at the links below. This is also compared with the average snow situation in the past.
Snow water equivalent absolut shows the absolute modelled values of available snow water equivalents (in mm).
Snow water equivalent relative shows deviation from the long-term average of available snow water equivalents (mm).
Further information and links:
Snow cover water equivalent – MeteoSwiss (admin.ch; de, fr, it)