Swiss glaciers lost more than 5% of their ice in 2026 after a winter with too little snow and record summer temperatures triggered severe melting, according to a report released Thursday.
Switzerland’s glaciers are shrinking rapidly after experiencing one of their worst years of ice loss during a record-breaking European heatwave.
A report by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation of the Swiss Academy of Sciences showed that Swiss glaciers lost more than 5% of their ice in 2026.
The findings highlight the accelerating pace of glacier retreat as extreme melting years become increasingly common. Over the past five years, Swiss glaciers have shed almost a fifth of their ice, the report showed, threatening future water supplies and raising questions about the long-term survival of Europe’s ice fields.
“Now we are in this new world, in this future, where glaciers are just melting away,” Matthias Huss, director of GLAMOS, said.
A combination of a winter with too little snow and record temperatures in the summer led to what Huss described as “enormous” melting this year.