Weather German government warns of heavy thunderstorms on Saturday

MeteoSwiss is warning of an "explosive weather cocktail" late Saturday afternoon, especially in western Switzerland. There is a threat of heavy thunderstorms bringing storms and hail.

On its blog, the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) speaks of an "explosive football match", referring to the European Championship round of 16 match between Switzerland and Italy, which starts on Saturday at 6 pm in Berlin and will be broadcast in numerous public viewing areas throughout Switzerland. So it could get pretty wet at some of them.

The arrival of warm and very humid air in Switzerland with temperatures of up to 21 degrees at around 1500 meters above sea level, coupled with the diurnal warming during the afternoon, will lead to strong instability, the weather forecasters write.

"From the late afternoon, dynamic thunderstorms from the southwest will cross western Switzerland and the Jura in a northeasterly direction. In contrast to recent thunderstorm events, these thunderstorms will be organized and on the move and may produce high rainfall intensities, strong gusts of wind on the ground and hailstones in the centimetre range," warns the institute.

The thunderstorms in the high mountains of the Alps could lead to a considerable amount of meltwater, with a zero degree limit at over 4300 meters. This amount of water would be added to the thunderstorm rainfall totals, whereby local amounts of 50 millimetres could be reached in a very short time, writes MeteoSwiss.

SDA