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The glacier melt in the Swiss Alps has begun

According to the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos), at the end of April there was around 31% more snow on all of Switzerland's 1,400 glaciers than the average for the years 2010 to 2020.
According to the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos), at the end of April there was around 31% more snow on all of Switzerland's 1,400 glaciers than the average for the years 2010 to 2020. Keystone / Mayk Wendt

The peak of the snow accumulation was most likely reached on Monday, wrote glaciologist Matthias Huss on the social media platform X on Tuesday.

“From now on, the melt will dominate,” Huss continued. This year’s weather has been a blessing for the Swiss glaciers so far.

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According to the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (Glamos), at the end of April there was around 31% more snow on all of Switzerland’s 1,400 glaciers than the average for the years 2010 to 2020. Since these measurements were taken, the condition of the glaciers has improved even further, wrote Huss.

+Why melting glaciers affect us all

This suggests that the glacier melt in 2024 is likely to be lower than in the two previous years.

In the last two years, Swiss glaciers have lost a total of 10% of their ice. Following the record loss of 6% in 2022, glacier ice melted by a further 4% in 2023.

Adapted from German by DeepL/amva

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