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Swiss Glaciers Shed 3% in 2025, Fourth-Largest Annual Loss on Record

Low winter snow followed by heatwaves drove the decline.

FILE - Matthias Huss, of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and glacier monitoring group GLAMOS, stands at the Rhone Glacier that is partially covered with sheets near Goms, Switzerland, on June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
FILE - Water drips from a melting chunk of ice that originated from the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, on June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
A drone view shows the Turtmann glacier on a warm summer day, amid climate change, in Turtmann, Switzerland, September 3, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
FILE - Matthias Huss, of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and glacier monitoring group GLAMOS, and Monica Ursina Jaeger prepare a camera at the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, on June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

Overview

  • The GLAMOS and Swiss Academy of Sciences report for the 2024–25 hydrological year records a 3% national ice loss, ranking behind only 2022, 2023 and 2003.
  • Swiss glacier volume has fallen about 24% since 2015, with more than 1,100 glaciers gone since the 1970s and roughly 100 disappearing between 2016 and 2022.
  • Sparse snowfall left reserves depleted before Switzerland’s second-hottest June on record, an August heatwave pushed the freezing line to about 5,000 meters, and a cool, wet July prevented an even worse outcome.
  • National totals are derived from detailed measurements at around 20 reference glaciers and extrapolated to roughly 1,400 glaciers across the country.
  • GLAMOS warns of growing hazards such as mountain destabilisation and the May collapse that destroyed Blatten, and says deep global emissions cuts could still preserve about one-third of high-elevation ice.