About 0.5°F per decade, measured from Lugano's official daily weather records, 1971–2025. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.
Is that a lot? Lugano's climate has warmed more slowly than most other cities in Switzerland.
What has actually changed
Each card compares the 1970s (the first ten years of the
record) with recent years (the last ten) — the same span
the headline and the chart use.
Freezing nights
17 fewer nights
1970s
36 / yr
→
Recent
19 / yr
Milder winters — fewer frosts
Average temperature
+1.9°F
1970s
53.6°F
→
Recent
55.5°F
A steady upward drift
Hot days above 90°F
5 more days
1970s
0 / yr
→
Recent
5 / yr
More days of serious heat
Rainy days
5 fewer days
1970s
123 / yr
→
Recent
118 / yr
Drier on average
Lugano's temperature, year by year
Average temperature for each year from 1971 to 2025.
a warmer-than-average year a cooler-than-average year
Each bar is one year. Most recent years sit above the older ones.
Some recent years still came in cool — warming is a slope,
not a straight climb.
In day-to-day terms, that long-term shift shows up as about 7 fewer freezing nights a year and about 2 more days above 90°F compared with the 1970s.
When in the year the change shows up
How much warmer each month is now than in the 1970s.
Useful if you garden or care about a particular season —
otherwise the headline above already has the answer.
June has warmed the most — about 2.9°F. The warming runs across the whole year, not just one season.
Methodology & sources
Temperature — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from a national meteorological service, measured at Lugano, inside the city.