ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / RankWire.AI / – In 2026, Switzerland’s glaciers experienced a reduction of 5.5% in their ice volume, marking the second-largest percentage drop on record. The significant loss followed a winter characterized by an unusually low snowfall and a summer dominated by intense heatwaves. Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, known as GLAMOS, documented these changes throughout the Swiss Alps. The Swiss Academy of Sciences also confirmed the national findings. Over the past five years, nearly 20% of Switzerland’s glacier volume has vanished.
The winter of 2025 to 2026 ranked among Switzerland’s ten least snowy winters since record-keeping began. Hot and dry conditions then persisted from May through September. During the warm season, the freezing level rose above 4,000 metres on 76 days—more than twice the average—setting a Swiss record. By September, researchers observed no remaining snow at elevations around 3,500 metres, exposing glacier ice across high Alpine regions.
On average, glacier thickness decreased between 2.5 and 4 metres during the 2026 measurement period, with some glacier tongues losing as much as 10 metres of ice. Several major glaciers, including the Allalin, Clariden, Great Aletsch and Rhône glaciers, recorded their greatest melt since measurements began. These losses placed 2026 just behind 2022, which remains the most severe glacier melt year in Switzerland’s record.
Smaller Swiss Glaciers Disappear as Ice Losses Accelerate
During this monitoring period, numerous smaller glaciers in Switzerland vanished entirely. Among them were Bella Tola in the canton of Valais and Griessfirn in Glarus. Their disappearance is part of a broader decline across the country’s Alpine ice fields. Data indicates that glacier volume has decreased by nearly 20% since 2021, driven by successive years of low snowfall and extensive summer melting across much of the Swiss Alps.
The melting process also resulted in substantial water release during the dry summer months. From July to September, glaciers emitted approximately 2.2 trillion litres of water—more than four times the annual drinking water needs of all Swiss households. This meltwater fed into Alpine rivers and other water systems amid widespread summer dryness, illustrating how much glacier ice entered Switzerland’s water cycle in just three months of 2026.
Low Snowfall and Summer Heat Drive 2026 Glacier Melt
Although the glacier melt in 2026 was below the record set in 2022, the conditions contributed to this variation. Many glaciers started the summer with marginally more snow than in 2022. Additionally, fewer Saharan dust particles settled on the snow this year. Cleaner snow reflected more sunlight, whereas dust-darkened surfaces absorbed increased solar energy, intensifying melting when other conditions remained similar.
Despite these differences, the 2026 season still saw notable ice losses across both high elevations and lower glacier tongues, adding another significant year to Switzerland’s long-standing glacier record. Field measurements, snow surveys, and glacier mass-balance observations conducted until the end of September reveal widespread ice depletion, the disappearance of smaller glaciers, and major reductions in thickness. The year 2026 ranks among the most severe years for Swiss glacier melt recorded so far.