MeteoSwiss produces automated weather forecasts for various time scales, from analysis and short-range weather forecasts (0–6 hours) through to five-day forecasts. These weather forecasts are provided as local forecasts for individual locations as well as regional forecasts for Switzerland and the entire Alpine region.
MeteoSwiss deploys various forecasting models that enable it to calculate the future state of the atmosphere and predict weather developments. The forecasts cover different time scales and sizes of geographical areas.
Short-range forecasting
Nowcasting
A short-range forecast is produced every 10 minutes with the help of the INCA-CH nowcasting model, which combines all available information in real time. The forecast covers Switzerland and adjacent regions with a grid size of 1 km. The forecasting period ranges from 0 to 6 hours, with data calculated at a temporal resolution of 10 or 60 minutes, depending on the parameter in question. The short-range forecast encompasses a continuous combination of observed and extrapolated data as well as predicted data from the numerical forecast model ICON-CH1-EPS. Long-range forecasts are available for some parameters. These combine the INCA-CH data with the ICON-CH1-EPS forecasts.
Nowcasting is frequently updated. This allows the latest available observations (monitoring stations, radar and satellites) to be taken into account, which improves the forecast quality.
The nowcasting products are freely available as open data (Open Data / OGD)
1- to 5-day forecast
Using the numerical weather forecast models ICON-CH1-EPS and ICON-CH2-EPS, MeteoSwiss offers direct model outputs for the entire Alpine region in the form of hourly analyses or forecasts for up to 5 days ahead. Forecasts for the whole of Switzerland or the entire Alpine region are available for a wide range of parameters.
Several times a day, the models calculate 11 and 21 different forecasts respectively (known as “members”), each with slightly different initial conditions. From this collection of forecasts, the “ensemble”, the probability of a certain weather event occurring can be calculated. The ensemble also provides a measure of the predictability of the expected weather situation and thus also an estimate for the forecast reliability. The data are available from these individual forecasts. In addition, derived values such as quantiles can also be ordered.
|
Forecast period |
Ensemble runs/day |
Member |
Grid size |
|
| ICON-CH1-EPS |
33 h |
8 |
11 |
1.0 km |
| ICON-CH2-EPS |
120 h |
4 |
21 |
2.1 km |
The ICON ensemble forecasts are freely available as open data (Open Data / OGD).
Local forecast
The local forecast offered by MeteoSwiss provides a seamless combination of the various advantages of the different products (“seamless forecast”): INCA-CH Nowcasting is used for the first few hours, followed by ICON-CH1-EPS, ICON-CH2-EPS and finally the ensemble model IFS-ENS from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts[interner. These forecasts are identical to the forecasts published on the MeteoSwiss website and in the app.
The local forecasts are freely available as open data (Open Data / OGD).