ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / RankWire.AI / – Switzerland’s glaciers saw a decrease of 5.5% in their ice volume during 2026, marking the second-largest decline on record. The shrinkage followed a winter characterized by unusually sparse snowfall and a summer dominated by extreme heat. Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, known as GLAMOS, tracked these changes throughout the Swiss Alps. The Swiss Academy of Sciences also confirmed these national findings. Over the past five years, nearly 20% of Switzerland’s glacier volume has vanished.
The winter of 2025 to 2026 ranks among Switzerland’s ten least snowy winters since measurement records began. Persistently hot and dry conditions extended from May through September. During the warm season, the freezing level rose above 4,000 metres on 76 days, a figure more than twice the average, setting a Swiss record. By September, researchers observed no snow remaining even at elevations around 3,500 metres, exposing glacier ice across high Alpine regions.
During the 2026 measurement period, the average thickness of glaciers decreased between 2.5 and 4 metres. Some glacier tongues lost as much as 10 metres of ice. Several significant glaciers reported their greatest melt since measurements started, including the Allalin, Clariden, Great Aletsch, and Rhône glaciers. These losses made 2026 the second most severe year of glacier melt in Switzerland’s recorded history, just behind 2022.
Smaller Swiss glaciers vanish as ice loss accelerates
Complete disappearance affected several smaller glaciers in Switzerland during this latest monitoring period. Among those are Bella Tola in the canton of Valais and Griessfirn in Glarus. Their extinction is part of a broader ongoing decline across Switzerland’s Alpine ice fields. Data indicates that glacier volume has decreased by nearly 20% since 2021. This cumulative reduction has coincided with repeated years of minimal snowfall and intense summer melting across much of the Swiss Alps.
The melting of Swiss glaciers also released substantial volumes of water during the dry summer months. From July to September, glaciers lost approximately 2.2 trillion litres of water, surpassing four times the annual drinking-water needs of all Swiss households. Meltwater fed into Alpine rivers and other water systems during this period of widespread summer dryness. These figures highlight the volume of glacier ice that transitioned into Switzerland’s water cycle within just three months of 2026.
Influence of reduced snowfall and summer heat on the 2026 melting season
The glacier melt of 2026, although significant, did not reach the record levels seen in 2022. Variations in snow conditions help explain part of the difference between these two extreme years. Many glaciers entered the 2026 summer with marginally more snow than in 2022. Additionally, less Saharan dust settled on the snow this year. Cleaner snow reflected more sunlight, whereas dust-darkened surfaces absorbed greater solar energy, potentially increasing melting when other conditions are comparable.
Despite these differences, measurements for 2026 reveal extensive ice loss at both high elevations and lower glacier tongues. The season contributed another year of considerable decline to Switzerland’s long-term glacier record. Observations from field surveys, snow assessments, and glacier mass-balance studies documented widespread ice loss, the disappearance of smaller glaciers, and notable thinning across the country through September’s end. These findings reinforce that 2026 ranks among the most destructive years for Swiss glacier melting to date.