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.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.