Swiss Glaciers Lose Over 5% of Their Ice in 2026 as Heat and Low Snow Speed Up Melting

Switzerland's glaciers — the biggest collection of glaciers in the Alps — lost 5.5% of their total ice volume in 2026. Scientists say this is the second-largest percentage drop ever recorded. The main causes are strong heat waves and a winter that brought very little snow. Experts are warning that glaciers across the Alps could disappear if global warming is not stopped.

The Swiss glacier monitoring service, called GLAMOS, and the Swiss Academy of Sciences released a report on Thursday about the alarming loss. "Alpine glaciers have no chance of surviving in the long term under such conditions," the two groups said together. Their findings show just how fast things are changing in the mountains of Switzerland. Scientists say this is part of a growing problem caused by climate change around the world.

The melting has gotten worse very quickly in recent years. Over just the past five years, Switzerland has lost nearly one-fifth of all its glacier ice. Matthias Huss, who leads GLAMOS and teaches glaciology at a top Swiss university, said the cause is clear. "The warming that we are experiencing now can be attributed 100% to anthropogenic climate change," he said. "Without human emissions or fossil fuels we wouldn't have any warming at the moment."

Winter snow plays a huge role in keeping glaciers healthy. Huss explained that snow does two important things for glaciers. First, it acts like a blanket, protecting the old ice underneath from melting in warmer months. Second, snow that piles up at high elevations can eventually turn into new ice, helping the glacier grow back. Without enough winter snow, glaciers lose their protection and cannot replace the ice they lose each summer.

The worst single year for Swiss glaciers was 2022. That summer, strong heat, low snowfall, and reddish dust blown in from the Sahara Desert all hit at once. The dark dust settled on the ice and caused it to soak up even more heat from the sun. This combination melted an unusually large amount of ice in a short time. Scientists use that year as a warning about what can happen when several harmful factors combine.

Even though this year's loss in raw volume was slightly less than in 2022, the percentage loss was higher. That's because the total amount of ice left in Switzerland is now much smaller than it used to be. About 23 years ago, the same amount of melting would have only been about 3.5% of the total ice. Today, because so much ice is already gone, the same melt counts for a much bigger share. Think of it like a shrinking pizza — each slice taken looks bigger when the pizza is already small.

From July to September alone, Switzerland lost 2.2 trillion liters of water — that's 581 billion gallons. To put that in perspective, it equals four times the amount of water all of Switzerland uses in an entire year. This is a serious problem because more than half of Switzerland's electricity comes from hydropower, which depends on flowing water. If glaciers keep shrinking, the country's water and power supply could be threatened. The effects are already being felt across the country.

The melting matters far beyond Switzerland's borders, too. Switzerland is sometimes called the "water tower of Europe" because its glaciers feed some of the continent's biggest rivers. The Danube, Po, Rhine, and Rhone rivers all begin or are fed by water that flows down from Swiss glaciers. Millions of people in many countries depend on these rivers for drinking water, farming, and transportation. When Swiss glaciers shrink, the whole region feels the impact.

Some of Switzerland's most famous glaciers had their worst melt year on record in 2026. These include the Aletsch Glacier, which is the largest glacier in all of the Alps. On average, individual glaciers lost between 2.5 and 4 meters (about 8 to 13 feet) of thickness. At the lower ends of some glaciers, the ice thinned by as much as 10 meters (33 feet). Scientists are tracking the meltwater closely, even pouring red dye into streams to follow where the water goes.

Global glacier loss is not only happening in Switzerland. Experts say climate change also helped cause a Himalayan slope to collapse in August, which sent deadly floods through Nepal. Satellites have captured images showing glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica shrinking over the past 50 years. Scientists around the world agree that rising temperatures are the main driver of these changes. The melting of glaciers is one of the clearest signs that Earth's climate is shifting in dangerous ways.