Zurich in 2050: climate change in numbers
Zurich has warmed 2.1 °C, comparing the last ten years (2016–2025) with 1951–1980 — faster than the world as a whole (+1.1 °C). By 2050, it is heading for a climate that no large city has today.
2050 = 2040–2059 average, intermediate emissions (SSP2-4.5), median of CMIP6 climate models. “Today” = 1991–2020. Model range for average temperature: 10.9–12.5 °C.
Zurich: average annual temperature, 1950–2025 (°C)
1950 → 2025. Zurich's warming stripes: each stripe is one year's average temperature.
What Zurich's climate will feel like
We compared Zurich's projected 2050 climate with today's climate in more than 1,000 large cities. None is a close match; the nearest is Hamburg, Germany. Scientists call this a novel climate: conditions the city's people, buildings and infrastructure have no local experience of.
| Zurich today | Zurich 2050 | Hamburg today | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average temperature | 10.1 °C | 11.5 °C | 9.6 °C |
| Average daily high | 13.9 °C | 15.4 °C | 13.1 °C |
| Hottest day | 32 °C | 34 °C | 33 °C |
| Frost days | 62 | 50 | 61 |
| Rainfall | 1,463 mm | 1,499 mm | 806 mm |
A year in Zurich, day by day
Each square is one day of the year; the coloured squares are the days that cross the threshold in an average year.
Days above 30 °C (86 °F) in Zurich
Tropical nights in Zurich (never cooler than 20 °C)
Frost days in Zurich (below 0 °C)
What changes by 2050
- The average temperature rises a further 1.4 °C compared with 1991–2020 (model range 0.8–2.4 °C).
- Days above 30 °C (86 °F) rise from about 6 a year (1991–2020) to about 12 by 2040–2059.
- Frost days fall from about 62 to 50 a year: shorter, milder winters.
Dangerous heat in Zurich
Even by 2090 under very high emissions, Zurich is not projected to have days with a heat index of 39 °C or more in a typical year. See where dangerous heat spreads worldwide.
Under high emissions
If emissions keep rising (SSP5-8.5), Zurich would average 12.2 °C by 2040–2059, with a hottest day around 34 °C and 17 days above 30 °C (86 °F) a year. By mid-century the scenarios are still close; the choices made now mostly decide what happens after 2050 — see the world in 2050.
More places
Compare Zurich with…Climate change in SwitzerlandMilanParisBrusselsPrague
Frequently asked questions
How hot will Zurich be in 2050?
Under an intermediate emissions scenario (SSP2-4.5), Zurich's average annual temperature in 2040–2059 is projected at about 11.5 °C (range 10.9–12.5 °C across climate models), compared with 10.1 °C in 1991–2020. The hottest day of a typical year reaches about 34 °C (93 °F).
Is Zurich getting hotter?
Yes. The last ten years (2016–2025) averaged 2.1 °C warmer than 1951–1980 in Zurich, faster than the global average of 1.1 °C over the same period (Copernicus ERA5).
Which city will Zurich feel like in 2050?
No large city today has a climate quite like Zurich's projected 2050 climate. The closest match is Hamburg, Germany, but the fit is loose — Zurich is heading into a climate with no close equivalent among the world's large cities.
What would happen under high emissions?
Under a very high emissions scenario (SSP5-8.5), Zurich's average temperature in 2040–2059 is projected at 12.2 °C and the hottest day at about 34 °C. The differences between scenarios grow much larger after 2050.
Sources: World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CMIP6 0.25°, ERA5 0.25°); Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis (C3S/ECMWF); NASA NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 (Thrasher et al. 2022); GeoNames
Method: Delta method: ERA5 1995–2014 + CMIP6 ensemble change 2040–2059 vs 1995–2014. Values are for the ~25 km grid cell containing the city and can differ from a single weather station, especially for coastal and mountain cities. Methodology · Download CSV
Licence: Derived from ERA5 (CC BY 4.0, Copernicus/ECMWF), CMIP6 via World Bank CCKP (CC BY-SA 4.0) and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). City data on this site: CC BY-SA 4.0. · Generated 17 October 2026