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On This Day in Basel: A Historic Weather Record

Published: February 12, 2026  ·  Period: 2026-02-12

On February 12, 1932, Basel recorded one of its coldest days at -23.8°C, marking it as the third coldest in the city's history, yet this pales in comparison to Switzerland's record of -41.8°C in La Brévine and the global record of -89.2°C at Vostok Station in Antarctica. These comparisons underscore the relative severity of Basel's cold within the broader context of extreme temperatures worldwide.

On February 12, 1932, Basel experienced one of its coldest days ever recorded, with temperatures plummeting to a chilling -23.8°C. This day, now 94 years in the past, marked the third coldest day in Basel's history. While this temperature is extreme for Basel, it pales in comparison to some of the coldest temperatures recorded elsewhere. In Switzerland, the coldest temperature was -41.8°C, recorded in La Brévine on January 12, 1987. Across Europe, the record is even more severe, with AWS Klinck in Greenland experiencing a bone-chilling -69.6°C on December 22, 1991. On a global scale, the coldest temperature ever recorded was an unimaginable -89.2°C at Vostok Station in Antarctica on July 21, 1983. These comparisons highlight the relative severity of Basel's cold day within the broader context of global temperature extremes.

Table 1: Lowest Temperature Records: Switzerland, Europe, and Worldwide
Region Location Date Temperature Reference
Switzerland La Brévine, NE 1987-01-12 -41.8 MeteoSwiss - Records and extremes
Global Vostock, Antarctica 1983-07-21 -89.2 MeteoSwiss - Records and extremes
Europe AWS Klinck, Greenland 1991-12-22 -69.6 MeteoSwiss - Records and extremes

Figure 1: Temperature before and after coldest Day on 1942-01-22

Data source: opendata.bs
Additional resources: Extreme Weather Watch, MeteoSwiss: Records and extremes

🤖 This text was generated with the assistance of AI. All quantitative statements are derived directly from the dataset listed under Data Source.