Overview
- The Rhone Glacier reached 'Glacier Loss Day' on Monday, June 29, meaning winter snow had melted away and the ice beneath began to shed.
- Glacier Monitoring Switzerland recorded about 1.5 metres of ice loss at one Rhone site during two weeks of extreme heat.
- Monitors estimate meltwater during the June heatwave could have filled an Olympic-sized pool roughly every six seconds for two weeks.
- The two June heatwaves strained power and health systems and coincided with preliminary reports of about 3,700 excess deaths across France, Belgium and the Netherlands, including 2,025 reported in France.
- Scientists, led by Matthias Huss of Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, warn several more months remain for summer melt and say the early loss of protective snow signals continuing long-term glacier decline that will reduce summer water resilience and hydropower over time.