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Better Weather for the Alps in Late May/Early June or September?

Posted by on

Hello: I have booked a trip to Lauterbrunnen/Zermatt in late May and early June. But then I checked the weather and saw all the rain days. Now I'm considering changing to September.

How much does it actually rain on a daily basis in May and June? Can I expect intermittant showers or hours of downpours? Does it typically rain all day or just in the afternoons? Some of the forecasts say patchy light rain with thunder. Doesn't thunder mean lightning too?

Will it really rain less in September? Will the Alps still be green? I know this sounds dumb, but they look rather brown in some photos.

Thank you. Please respond quickly -- the window for refunds on cancellations is approaching!

Karen

Posted by
1179 posts

Karen, a great source for hourly past weather is timeanddate.com. My husband, a physicist, says that thunder is caused by lightening. There is no such thing as thunder without lightening.

Posted by
2 posts

Hello:

Thank you for your quick reply. For some reason, weather25, which has historical daily weather data, forecasts "patchy light rain with thunder," which is weird because, of course, your concern when you're hiking is lightning!

Thanks again. If someone reading this is looking for extended weather data, I would suggest Meteum, as well as the forementioned weather25.

Karen

Posted by
1311 posts

I don’t think anyone can really predict the weather anymore. We were in many areas of Switzerland the last two weeks of August last year. It was green, hot and muggy. We had afternoon thunder and lightning storms in Appenzell and also in the Lauterbrunnen Valley where flash flooding was happening right after we left. We also had 3 days in Zermatt with clear views of the Matterhorn which is unusual. Maybe someone on here can fill in on how long this weather continued on into September. I also might add that it was extremely crowded everywhere we went.

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