ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / RankWire.AI / – In 2026, Switzerland’s glaciers experienced a 5.5% reduction in their ice volume, representing the second-largest percentage decline on record. This significant decrease followed a winter characterized by unusually low snowfall and a summer dominated by intense heat. Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, known as GLAMOS, documented these changes across the Swiss Alps, while the Swiss Academy of Sciences also reported the findings nationally. Over the past five years, nearly 20% of Switzerland’s glacier volume has vanished.
The winter of 2025 to 2026 was among Switzerland’s ten least snowy since measurements began. Persistent hot and dry conditions then extended from May through September. During the warm season, the freezing level rose above 4,000 metres on 76 days, more than double the average, setting a Swiss record. By September, researchers observed no remaining snow at elevations around 3,500 metres, leaving exposed glacier ice visible in high Alpine regions.
During the 2026 measurement period, average glacier thickness decreased by between 2.5 and 4 metres. Some glacier tongues experienced ice loss of up to 10 metres. Several major glaciers, including the Allalin, Clariden, Great Aletsch, and Rhône glaciers, recorded their highest melt since measurements started. These losses placed 2026 just behind 2022, which remains the most severe glacier melt year in Switzerland’s measurement history.
Smaller Swiss glaciers vanish as ice loss accelerates
During the latest monitoring period, several smaller Swiss glaciers completely disappeared. Among those were Bella Tola in the canton of Valais and Griessfirn in Glarus. Their disappearance is part of a longer-term decline seen across Switzerland’s Alpine ice fields, with measurements indicating a nearly one-fifth reduction in glacier volume since 2021. This cumulative loss has coincided with multiple years of low snowfall and intense summer melting across much of the Swiss Alps.
The meltwater from Swiss glaciers also contributed large volumes of water during the dry summer months. From July to September, glaciers lost about 2.2 trillion litres of water, exceeding four times the annual drinking-water needs of all Swiss households. This meltwater fed into Alpine rivers and other water systems during a period of widespread summer dryness. The data illustrate how much glacier ice entered Switzerland’s water cycle during just three months of 2026.
Minimal snowfall and summer heat drove 2026’s glacier melt
The glacier loss in 2026 did not surpass the record melt observed in 2022. Snow conditions partly explain the difference between these two extreme years. Many glaciers began the 2026 summer with marginally more snow than in 2022. Additionally, less Saharan dust settled on the snow this year. Cleaner snow reflects more sunlight, while surfaces darkened by dust absorb more solar energy, which can enhance melting under similar conditions.
Despite these differences, the 2026 season saw significant ice loss across both high elevations and lower glacier tongues, adding another year to Switzerland’s ongoing pattern of substantial glacier decline. Field measurements, snow surveys, and glacier mass-balance observations documented widespread ice loss, shrinking smaller glaciers, and notable reductions in thickness across the country through September. The findings highlight 2026 as one of the most severe years for Swiss glacier melt recorded to date.