Climate Alpnach Air Base 2020-2024

Climate and trends: average temperature, flight conditions, precipitation, wind speed and direction.

Calculated from historical METAR data of Alpnach Air Base (LSMA) between 2020 and 2024.

VFR conditions (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	61.3	63	68	60	58	73
February	73.7	80	73	90	71	95
March	83.0	78	75	95	80	88
April	89.4		83	87	94	97
May	88.2		80	92	92	83
June	94.0		98	94	91	91
July	95.5		98	96	90	96
August	91.1		94	88	94	92
September	90.5		96	90	91	92
October	82.5		93	81	80	84
November	62.9		84	82	40	49
December	58.3		71	31	46	59
Average	82.3	74.2	85.7	85.9	80.8	85.2

9th best VFR conditions of Switzerland

VFR conditions during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the VFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 8 km or more and a ceiling of 3,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Marginal VFR conditions (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	84.4	86	97	81	90	80
February	90.0	93	91	96	96	98
March	94.1	92	90	99	95	99
April	97.6		98	97	100	99
May	97.9		97	99	99	98
June	98.1		99	98	98	98
July	98.6		100	99	96	99
August	98.3		99	98	100	97
September	97.3		99	97	99	99
October	94.3		96	93	92	94
November	86.1		94	89	78	70
December	78.1		81	69	71	79
Average	93.7	90.5	95.8	94.8	94.1	93.8

Marginal VFR conditions or better during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the MVFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 5 km or more and a ceiling of 1,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Maximum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	4.4	5	5	4	3	5
February	7.9	10	8	9	8	11
March	10.9	13	11	11	9	10
April	15.0		13	14	14	18
May	18.6		18	21	16	19
June	24.3		26	25	24	21
July	25.1		26	27	22	25
August	24.4		25	26	22	24
September	20.4		24	19	21	21
October	15.8		18	18	14	13
November	8.5		9	10	7	9
December	4.8		7	2	3	5
Average	14.3	9.2	15.7	15.9	13.5	15.2

12th highest temperature of Switzerland

Average highest temperature per day

The maximum temperature is typically observed some hours after noon.

Minimum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	-2.2	-1	-1	-2	-2	-2
February	-1.3	3	-1	-1	-1	1
March	0.7	2	1	-1	0	0
April	3.6		4	4	2	5
May	8.5		10	11	6	8
June	13.4		13	14	14	11
July	14.7		16	15	13	15
August	14.5		15	15	14	15
September	11.1		13	11	12	11
October	7.0		8	10	5	6
November	2.3		2	3	2	2
December	-1.8		0	-2	0	-1
Average	5.5	1.2	6.6	6.7	5.3	5.9

10th lowest temperature of Switzerland

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Precipitation (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	19.4	22	19	9	27	7
February	16.3	9	10	15	19	19
March	17.6	22	22	5	19	12
April	13.8		24	23	12	5
May	15.2		18	10	22	13
June	9.5		5	10	10	20
July	9.9		12	7	18	8
August	12.8		16	9	12	18
September	10.9		5	18	9	7
October	11.6		11	11	7	20
November	18.9		41	15	21	7
December	22.8		26	29	27	14
Average	14.7	17.9	16.5	12.4	16.2	12.5

Precipitation during daylight period

Percentage of observations with observed rain, drizzle, snow or hail. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Wind speed (knots)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	3.5	3	4	4	3	3
February	3.8	3	4	4	4	5
March	4.8	4	4	5	5	5
April	5.7		5	6	6	6
May	5.5		5	5	5	6
June	5.2		6	5	5	4
July	4.6		4	5	4	4
August	4.3		4	5	4	4
September	3.9		4	4	4	4
October	3.2		3	3	4	3
November	3.1		4	3	3	3
December	3.0		3	3	3	2
Average	4.3	3.6	4.3	4.5	4.3	4.3

12th highest wind speed of Switzerland

Average wind speed

Excluding wind gusts. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Prevailing wind direction

Month	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	064°	038°	130°	099°	117°
February	059°	044°	165°	047°	199°
March	050°	132°	059°	058°	053°
April		060°	064°	059°	058°
May		059°	061°	056°	054°
June		059°	061°	064°	058°
July		061°	058°	061°	059°
August		063°	063°	057°	071°
September		064°	059°	062°	069°
October		058°	065°	062°	066°
November		147°	100°	071°	065°
December		176°	112°	203°	149°

Prevailing wind direction

Average wind direction, weighed by wind speed. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.