Swiss Glaciers Continue To Melt

Glacial melting in Switzerland was once again enormous in 2025. A winter with low snow depth combined with heat waves in June and August led to a loss of three per cent of the glacier volume. This is the fourth largest level of shrinkage since measurements began. Consequently, the ice mass reduced by one quarter in the last ten years. This was reported by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS), which is based at ETH Zurich and the Universities of Fribourg and Zurich.

Even the United Nations International Year of Glaciers' Preservation has seen further massive melting of glaciers in Switzerland. A winter with little snow was followed by heat waves in June 2025 that saw glaciers nearing the record levels of losses of 2022. Snow reserves from the winter were already depleted in the first half of July, and the ice masses began to melt earlier than had rarely ever been recorded.

The cool weather in July provided some relief and prevented an even worse outcome. Nevertheless, almost a further three per cent of the ice volume was lost across Switzerland this year, and this is the fourth greatest shrinkage after the years 2022, 2023 and 2003. 2025 therefore importantly contributed to the decade with the most rapid ice loss. Glaciers all over Switzerland have lost a quarter of their volume since 2015. Over 1,000 small glaciers have already disappeared.

In particular, glaciers below 3,000 m above sea level have suffered considerably in 2025. Snow from the winter disappeared there up to the summit level. As a consequence, the ice thickness on, for example, the Claridenfirn (Canton of Glarus), the Plaine Morte Glacier (Canton of Bern) and the Silvretta Glacier (Canton of the Grisons) reduced by over two meters. For glaciers in the southern Canton of Valais, such as the Allalin Glacier or Findel Glacier, the loss was less at around one meter.

"The continuous diminishing of glaciers also contributes to the destabilizing of mountains," says Matthias Huss, Director of GLAMOS. "This can lead to events such as in the Lötschental valley where an avalanche of rock and ice buried the village of Blatten."

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