Europe's earliest glacier loss day in years signals a reckoning for the Alps

On June 29, 2026, the snow accumulated by Switzerland's glaciers over the course of the previous winter had melted. Known as Glacier Loss Day, this date marks the point at which further melting begins to erode the glaciers' mass until snow accumulation resumes in the fall. Matthias Huss, the network head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that this year's Glacier Loss Day was "three months too early, compared to a healthy state."