Swiss Glaciers Lose 5.5% Ice in 2025-26 as 20% Vanishes Since 2021

2 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Oct 1

Swiss glaciers lost 5.5% of their ice volume between autumn 2025 and autumn 2026, with some glacier tongues thinning by up to 10 meters and several small glaciers disappearing entirely.
A 25% snow deficit after another dry winter left the ice exposed to record summer heat, with temperatures rising above freezing even past 4,000 meters and allowing melt from the glaciers' highest points.
Scientists also found decay from below accelerating the retreat, as warm water and air carve cavities under the ice; average glacier thickness fell by about 8 to 13 feet.
About 20% of Switzerland's glacial ice has vanished since 2021, and current melt rates are more than double any previous five-year period on record, according to GLAMOS monitoring.
The losses threaten a wider Swiss system that depends heavily on glacier-fed water, including hydropower that supplies more than half of the country's electricity.