00:01The snow and ice on Swiss glaciers are melting in June at an alarming rate due to a heat wave
00:07that has swept over Europe. According to the head of glacier monitoring in Switzerland,
00:12the snow and ice accumulated last winter is expected to have all melted away by Monday.
00:17From that day onwards, every additional day of melting shrinks the size of the glacier.
00:23In the past two decades, the only other time that this tipping point arrived earlier was in 2022.
00:30When it came on the 26th of June, on average, it usually arrives mid-August.
00:35The earlier arrival is concerning, as experts warn the nation's glaciers are in a bad state and shrinking at a
00:41staggering rate.
00:44The glacier loss is the result of the rising temperatures Europe has been faced with, as well as less snowfall
00:50in the winter.
00:51While glaciers in the Swiss Alps began retreating about 170 years ago,
00:56the melting has been relatively modest until recent decades.
01:00Experts warn melting has accelerated significantly as the climate warms.
