Swiss glaciers lost a fifth of mass in five years

Swiss glaciers lost a fifth of their mass in five years, a study said, after Switzerland recorded its hottest summer since measurements began in 1864.

The finding follows warnings from the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network, GLAMOS, which publishes Switzerland's annual glacier assessment each autumn. GLAMOS warned in June that Swiss glaciers faced drastic losses, and GLAMOS chief Matthias Huss told AFP then that all snow and ice accumulated over the winter had already melted away.

That marked the second-earliest glacier loss day on record, after 2022. MeteoSuisse said June, July and August were each the hottest recorded in Switzerland.

Last year's GLAMOS report said Swiss glaciers lost 3% of their volume in 2025, the fourth-largest shrinkage on record, and 24% between 2015 and 2025.

GLAMOS says more than 1,100 Swiss glaciers have disappeared since the early 1970s. MeteoSuisse says warming in Switzerland is progressing at twice the global average. Scientists have warned that the country's glaciers could all but disappear by the end of the century without more action to limit global warming.