Barometric Pressure Forecast for Bern, Switzerland
Barometric pressure forecast for Bern, Switzerland — on a sandstone peninsula in a loop of the Aare, on the Swiss Plateau between the Jura and the Alps. See current barometric pressure and what it means for weather-sensitive people.
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Pressure and weather in Bern
Bern stands at about 540 metres on the Mittelland, the belt of rolling country caught between the Jura ridges to the northwest and the Bernese Alps rising to the south, with the old town wrapped inside a tight meander of the Aare. That position between two mountain barriers is what gives the city its distinctive pressure behaviour. When a depression passes north of the Alps, air is drawn over the chain from Italy and descends as the foehn, warming and drying as it falls, and the barometer moves quickly in the hours before it arrives. The opposite pattern, the bise, sets in when high pressure builds over central Europe and cold northeasterly air is funnelled along the plateau, often for days at a stretch. Winter adds a third mode: under strong anticyclones, cold air pools in the plateau basins and Bern can sit under grey stratus for a week while the barometer barely stirs. Late autumn through early spring is the most volatile stretch, with foehn episodes and Atlantic fronts alternating.
What this means for you
The foehn is the pattern most often blamed for headaches in Switzerland, and it is worth learning to recognise on a chart because the pressure change runs ahead of the wind by several hours. Check the barometric pressure forecast when a foehn episode is signalled rather than waiting for the warm dry air to reach the valley.