Switzerland's glaciers lost 5.5% of their remaining ice volume in 2026, the second-largest annual loss since measurements began, according to the annual report released Thursday, Oct. 1, by Glacier Monitoring Switzerland (GLAMOS) and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Only 2022, when glaciers lost 5.9%, was worse.

The Rhône, Clariden and Aletsch glaciers, including the largest glacier in the Alps, recorded their greatest melt on record. About 30 small Swiss glaciers vanished this summer, Swissinfo reported, and the country has lost nearly a fifth of its glacier ice in just five years.

The consequences reach well beyond the mountains. Swiss glaciers feed major European rivers, store water that is released during hot, dry summers, and support a country that gets more than half its electricity from hydropower. "Alpine glaciers have no chance of surviving in the long term under such conditions," GLAMOS and the Swiss Academy of Sciences said in a statement.

The Numbers Behind a Catastrophic Year

The scientists measured 23 reference glaciers in September and extrapolated the results to the roughly 1,300 glaciers still found in Switzerland. Average glacier thickness dropped by 2.5 to 4 meters (about 8 to 13 feet) this year, and some glacier tongues lost up to 10 meters (about 33 feet) of ice.

The longer trend is starker. Ice volume fell by almost 20% between 2021 and 2026, a melt rate more than twice as high as any earlier five-year period on record, according to the GLAMOS annual report. Switzerland lost 10% of its glacier ice from 1990 to 2000 and 14% from 2000 to 2010, but 27% over the past 10 years.

The report blamed long, intense heat waves from May through September and very little winter snow, especially in the southern and eastern Alps. June through August was the hottest summer on record in Switzerland, according to MeteoSwiss, the national weather service, as reported by ABC News.

Percentage losses are rising partly because there is less ice left to lose. In absolute terms, more ice melted in the hot summer of 2003, but that equaled only 3.5% of the total at the time. Today's ice volume is roughly a third of what it was 23 years ago, the AP reported.

From White Peaks to a Lunar Landscape

GLAMOS head Matthias Huss, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich, described the change in vivid terms. He told The Guardian that standing where a large glacier existed only a few years ago now feels like standing in a "lunar landscape," a rocky desert scattered with melting chunks of old ice.

At the Scex Rouge glacier above Les Diablerets in western Switzerland, Huss held up a 4-meter (13-foot) measuring stake showing a single year of melt. "There will be probably no ice in 10 or maybe 15 years," he told AFP.

"It's not just a continuous decline of glaciers, it's, I would say, almost an explosion of the melting that we have seen in the last five years," Huss told ABC News. He said the mountains are shifting from white peaks to black ones.

The losses are most visible on small glaciers, which can disappear entirely in a single hot season. Researchers say the exact number that vanished this year will be confirmed when Switzerland updates its glacier inventory, planned for around 2028.

Water Supply, Hydropower and Mountain Hazards

Between July and September, Swiss glaciers released about 2.2 trillion liters (581 billion gallons) of meltwater, roughly four times the country's annual water consumption, the AP reported. That surge can ease summer droughts for now — but it comes from a shrinking reserve.

Huss said glaciers play a key role in balancing water availability, releasing meltwater during summer heat when rain is scarce. As glaciers get smaller, that buffer weakens. Swiss researchers say the Alps have reached or will soon reach peak water — the point after which meltwater runoff begins to decline. The report found that 2026 had the third-highest meltwater volume on record, even though glaciers are now much smaller.

Downstream, that matters for hydropower, irrigation and river shipping. The Rhône Glacier is the source of the Rhône River, which flows through Lake Geneva and France, and Alpine melt also feeds the Rhine. Lower late-summer flows could affect power generation and transport on rivers that carry goods across Europe.

Retreating ice also changes mountain safety. Glaciers and permafrost help hold steep slopes together. Last year, the Swiss village of Blatten was destroyed when a fragile glacier collapsed and brought part of a mountainside down with it, NPR reported. Hikers and climbers face growing rockfall risk on terrain once covered by ice.

A Narrowing Window for Alpine Ice

The 2026 report adds to a pattern of extreme melt years becoming routine. A 2025 study cited by Swissinfo projected that half of all Alpine glaciers could disappear within the next 20 years without a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

The outcome is not fixed. Huss told Al Jazeera that projections show about one-third of the ice in the Swiss and European Alps could still be saved if emissions are cut rapidly. How much ice survives depends on how quickly global emissions fall.

For travelers planning Alpine trips, the practical advice is to check local mountain guidance before hiking near glaciers, since routes and conditions are changing year to year. For everyone else, the Swiss data are among the clearest long-term measurements of how a warming climate is reshaping mountain water supplies.

The bottom line: Switzerland lost 5.5% of its glacier ice this year and nearly 20% in five years, with record melt on its most famous glaciers. The next annual GLAMOS report, expected next fall, will show whether a cooler or snowier year can slow a decline that scientists describe as accelerating.

What Readers Want to Know

How much ice did Swiss glaciers lose in 2026?

They lost 5.5% of their remaining volume, the second-largest loss on record after 2022, according to GLAMOS and the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

Which glaciers set records?

The Rhône, Clariden and Aletsch glaciers recorded their greatest melt on record in 2026.

Why was 2026 so bad for glaciers?

A winter with little snow was followed by long heat waves and Switzerland's hottest summer on record, leaving glacier ice exposed to the sun.

How many glaciers disappeared?

About 30 small glaciers vanished this summer, according to Swissinfo. A precise count will come with an updated glacier inventory around 2028.

Does glacier loss affect water supply?

Yes. Glaciers release water in hot, dry summers. As they shrink, that seasonal supply declines, affecting hydropower, irrigation, and river transport.

Can the glaciers still be saved?

Huss said that about one-third of Alpine glacier ice could be preserved if emissions are cut rapidly.