The Swiss voice in the world since 1935
Top stories
Stay in touch with Switzerland

Forest fires in Canada cause cloudy visibility in Swiss mountains

Forest fires in Canada cause cloudy visibility in Swiss mountains
Forest fires in Canada cause cloudy visibility in Swiss mountains Keystone-SDA

Despite the sunshine, the air in the Swiss mountains is not completely clear. The reason for this is the smoke from the forest fires in Canada, which has now reached Europe.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

On the Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Alps, the concentration of particulate matter is slightly above the limit value at 57 micrograms per cubic metre, as reported by the Meteonews Switzerland weather service on X on Monday.

The increased aerosol content can also be seen on satellite images, announced MeteoSwiss. A slight clouding of visibility was also recorded on the Gemsstock in the canton of Uri.

According to Canada’s national forest fire report, at times there were well over a hundred fires. Exceptional dryness and wind triggered the fires and caused them to spread. By the end of May, more than 17,000 people had been evacuated.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. 

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at [email protected]

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

According to a survey, electricity prices will fall in 2026

More

Swiss electricity prices predicted to fall in 2026

This content was published on Electricity prices in 2026 are likely to be lower than this year, according to a survey. The main reason is the fall in prices on the electricity market.

Read more: Swiss electricity prices predicted to fall in 2026
Switzerland and Côte d'Ivoire sign agreement on cultural assets

More

Switzerland and Ivory Coast sign agreement on cultural assets

This content was published on Culture Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider signed an agreement on cultural assets with Ivorian Culture Minister Françoise Remarck in Côte d'Ivoire on Monday. It is the first of its kind to be concluded with a country from the region.

Read more: Switzerland and Ivory Coast sign agreement on cultural assets
Aargau cantonal police capture a king snake in Veltheim AG

More

Kingsnake captured in Swiss garden

This content was published on A snake almost one-and-a-half metres long was discovered on Saturday in a garden in Veltheim, northern Switzerland. It was a red, black and white kingsnake.

Read more: Kingsnake captured in Swiss garden
The federal government is working on a new Swiss identity card with a chip

More

New Swiss biometric ID card planned for 2026

This content was published on A biometric Swiss identity card (ID) is expected to be available in Switzerland by the end of 2026. The Federal Office of Police and its federal and cantonal partners are working on a new ID card that features a chip.

Read more: New Swiss biometric ID card planned for 2026

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at [email protected].

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR
OSZAR »