Switzerland has recorded its mildest ever month of January since records began in 1864, the Swiss meteorological service said Thursday. The average temperature for the whole of the Alpine country during the winter month was 4.1 degrees Celsius above the January average for the period of 1961 to 1990, which is used by meteorologists as a reference, forecaster Marianne Hager of Meteosuisse told AFP.

Meteosuisse said in a statement that the trend since the 1970s was clearly towards warmer temperatures at the beginning of the year, despite cold snaps in 2005 and 2006.

Most lower-lying towns and cities experienced temperatures last month that were about one degree warmer than their previous records, all set in different years.

The biggest gap was in Zurich, with an average of 4.8 degrees, compared to a the previous record January high of 3.5 degrees in 1993. The January norm there is about minus 0.5 degrees, Hager said.

The highest average was in the southern city of Lugano, with 6.4 degrees compared to a record 5.2 degrees in 1921 and a normal average of 2.6 degrees.

Daytime temperatures in the south even hit a balmy 24 degrees Celsius on one day, fuelled by prevailing winds from the southwest and west.

Although most mountain areas reported a dearth of snow until late January, temperatures in higher altitude Swiss Alpine resorts did not reach record highs for the time of the year, Meteosuisse said.

earlier related report

Jan. 2007 Moscow's mildest on record – chief meteorologist

Moscow (RIA Novosti) Feb 1 – Last month was the mildest January Moscow has ever had since formal weather observations began here 130 years ago, the city's chief meteorologist said Thursday.

Alexei Lyakhov said the month's average temperature was just minus 1.6 degrees Celsius, 7.6 degrees above the norm.

"That beat the 1989 record, when the average temperature in January surpassed the norm by 7.1 degrees," he said.

Moscow's precipitation levels reached 69.8 millimeters in January, 27.8 millimeters higher than the norm, said Lyakhov.

Source: Agence France-Presse