Swiss glaciers begin heavy ice loss amid Europe heatwave

2 min read

Switzerland's glaciers are facing accelerated ice loss after a Europe heatwave melted winter protective snow weeks early. Rhone Glacier officially reached Glacier Loss Day on June 29, and a monitoring site there lost over five feet of ice in two weeks of June. This is the second time glaciers reached loss day earlier than usual, after a similar, more critical event in 2022. Matthias Huss, director of Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, called the situation very worrying and blamed June's heatwave, estimating melt rates equivalent to filling an Olympic pool every six seconds for 14 days; Europe saw temperatures up to 40C and the WMO reported over 1,300 heat deaths this year.

Rhone Glacier reached glacier loss day on June 29