Swiss glaciers lost about 5 percent of their volume this year, with 20 percent of the country’s glaciers disappearing over the past five years. High temperatures combined with a lack of winter snowfall have accelerated the pace of glacier decline.

On Oct. 5, Japanese online media outlet Gigazine reported that the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) and the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) said, "The scale of glacier decline in 2026 was the second-largest on record, after 2022, which saw the biggest drop since observations began."

At major monitored glaciers, thickness fell by about 2.5 to 4 metres. At the lowest observation point of the Aletsch glacier, the Alps’ largest and longest, thickness fell by 13 metres. The Rhone, Aletsch, Allalin and Clariden glaciers also recorded their biggest losses since monitoring began.

The main causes were high summer temperatures and a lack of winter snowfall. High temperatures and repeated heatwaves continued from May to September, and limited winter snow reduced the protection glaciers normally get from sunlight and heat. In some areas, the snow layer disappeared from June, and in September some locations at 3,500 metres above sea level were observed without snow.

Still, some glaciers had more snowfall than in 2022, and there was less dust carried from the Sahara Desert, relatively maintaining the snow’s sunlight-reflecting effect and avoiding a record loss.

The volume of water lost as glaciers melted was also substantial. Water lost from glaciers from July to September totalled about 2.2 trillion litres, more than four times Swiss households’ annual drinking-water consumption. SCNAT pointed out, "Glacier meltwater is easing summer water shortages, but as glacier area itself shrinks, that effect is also rapidly weakening." It added, "Under climate conditions like those now, there is no possibility of maintaining Alpine glaciers over the long term," and warned.