Climate Trends and Impacts in Switzerland in the 21st Century

The more recent work conducted within the context of EU Framework Program 5 projects alluded to in Chapter 6 has served to confirm earlier simulations of climatic change in the alpine region conducted by Marinucci et al. (1995) and Rotach et al. (1997). These studies concluded that the Alps would within decades experience a shift towards a Mediterranean-type climate, i.e., one that is characterized by a wet winter season and a long, dry and warm summer season. The northward progression of climatic zones that are currently located to the south is, as seen in Chapter 6, expected to be of the order of 500 km within 100 years. The climate of the western part of the Alps may therefore resemble, in terms of its temperature and precipitation characteristics, a type of climate that is currently found in the Mediterranean Alps of southern France.