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Local News Summary of December, 22nd

  • Dead body found at Dreirosenanlage 
  • Free of charge collection of Christmas trees and Advent wreaths after Christmas
  • Slim chance of a white Christmas this year 

Dead body found at Dreirosenanlage

The police are looking for witnesses after the body of a man was found on a bench near the basketball fields at Dreirosenanlage yesterday morning. The police, an emergency doctor, and the ambulance arrived on the scene after reports of a man lying motionless on the bench at around 10am. The doctor confirmed that the man had died.

It is not known how the man passed away. Investigations by the criminal police and the institute for forensic medicine are ongoing.

Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact the criminal police of the prosecution of Basel-Stadt on the telephone number 061 267 7111 or to go the nearest police station.

Free of charge collection of Christmas trees and Advent wreaths after Christmas

Christmas trees, fir branches, and Advent wreaths will be collected free of charge after Christmas and up until the end of January. The waste collection services will take them away on the normal collection days. Christmas trees taller than 2 metres must be shortened beforehand.

The city cleaners point out that trees can be put outside the evening (7pm) before the collection days and before 7am on the collection days at the roadside, just like the normal blue bin bag (Bebbi-Sagg).

However, Christmas trees do not necessarily have to be thrown away. Their branches can be used to protect plant plots, window boxes and shrubs from the cold. Tinsels and candle wax must however be removed. In spring, the fir needles which have dropped from the tree can be used to stop snails from eating young plants.

Branches can be turned into a compost additive by the shredding service or collected by the green collection service. The stem and branches also serve well as firewood.

The collection plan for 2018, the back of the green service leaflet, and the «Dankeschön…» posters of the collection vehicles about this long-time service for Christmas trees, fir branches, and Advent wreaths also provide information.

Slim chance of a white Christmas this year

There is a slim chance of a white Christmas this year – at least in the low-lying areas. This is due to mild air masses from the Atlantic Ocean which carry with them temperatures above 5° C.

When heavy snowfall north of the Alps gave us a white awakening last week, it looked more promising that we would get a white Christmas. Even in Basel - 260m above sea level - there were snowflakes falling, and in the Alps seasonal records were broken. On the Rigi mountain at the Lake of Lucerne, a total of 154cm of snow fell on Sunday. That was the second highest since records began 45 years ago.

The situation is different to last year, when at Christmas all mountains with a height under 2000 metres were still green. In the low-lying areas this year will also be a green Christmas.

In the long-time average this is rather the rule than the exception. Bern has had white Christmas days (24th to 26th December) on only one in every four years since records began. In Neuchâtel, it happens only once in eleven years, MeteoSchweiz wrote on its website.

This year snow in the lowlands melted due to milder air masses and rain, MeteoNews wrote in a press release on Thursday. Consequently, temperature rose to between four and seven degrees. This weather situation will remain up to and including Christmas. According to MeteoNews, the chances for a white Christmas have «definitely melted away».

It looks better above 800 to 1000 m where the land is covered in snow and gives a feeling that winter is really here. This is also underpinned by statistical data. In Einsiedeln (canton Schwyz) at 900 m, there is snow on three out of four Christmases. Also in Davos a green Christmas is an exception. In the last 80 years, there was no snow at Christmas only once – last year.