Snow and ice on Switzerland’s glaciers are melting at an increasingly rapid pace as extreme heat grips Europe.
Scientists expect the snow and ice accumulated on Swiss glaciers during the past winter to disappear by June 29, The Guardian reports.
“We’re just seeing enormous ablation, ice melt rates and snow melt rates all over the Alps. <…> The more days that are added that are very high temperatures, not even mattering whether it’s 35C or 40C, this is just very bad for the glaciers,” said Matthias Huss, head of the glacier monitoring service Glamos.
According to the report, a significant share of the water feeding the Rhine River and the Rhône River—two of Europe’s largest rivers—originates from Alpine glaciers.
Huss noted that in 2026, the amount of snow replenishing glacier surfaces was 25% lower than the average recorded between 2010 and 2020. Between 2000 and 2024, the volume of Switzerland’s glaciers declined by 38%, highlighting the accelerating impact of rising temperatures on the Alpine environment.
By Jeyhun Aghazada
