Colorado's iconic glaciers are fast vanishing with new photo showing how one has almost disappeared in just two years

Some of the most iconic Colorado glaciers are rapidly vanishing as new photos reveal one glacier almost disappeared in just two years. St. Vrain Glacier, in Boulder County, Colorado, has dramatically thinned over the past year as ice masses along the Rocky Mountains have been exposed due to intense climate change effects and significantly less snow fall to replenish its ice. The state has experienced its worst snowpack on record and record-breaking summer temperatures that have accelerated glacier melting.

According to the Colorado Climate Center , on average, Colorado was 6.1 degrees hotter over the past 12 months in 2026 than it was in the entire 20th century. These conditions have also threatened water sources and prompted rising sea levels. According to the Seattle Times , other iconic glaciers such as the Andrews Glacier thinned more than 12 feet this year, the Arapaho Glacier lost 10 feet and the Isabella Glacier lost 6.5 feet. St.

Mary's Glacier, a semi-permanent snowfield, has completely melted away for the first time in at least a century after it was once popular as a hiking and skiing attraction. Glaciologist Dan McGrath, from Colorado State University, told the Seattle Times that this rate of thinning has doubled compared to the past five years. 'It is not like we’re never going to see St. Mary’s snowfield again. Following big winters, it will exist in the summer.

But I think it’s safe to say that these glaciers — and I’m using that term broadly here to encompass all these snowfields — they’re on a one-way street toward disappearing,' McGrath told the Colorado Sun . ‹ Slide me › St. Vrain Glacier, in Boulder County, Colorado, has dramatically thinned over the past year as ice masses along the Rockey Mountains have been exposed due to intense climate changes. Pictured left is the glacier on September 1, 2024, and pictured right is the same glacier on September 6, 2026 According to the Seattle times, other iconic glacier such as the Andrews Glacier thinned more than 12 feet this year, the Arapaho Glacier lost 10 feet and the Isabella Glacier (pictured) lost 6.5 feet St.

Mary's Glacier, a semi-permanent snowfield, has completely melted away for the first time in at least a century after it was once popular as hiking and skiing attraction 'There may be winters where there’s a couple good winters in a row and we rebuild a little bit of this snow that may consolidate to ice over time, but that’s becoming increasingly unlikely given the warming climate that we’re in,' McGrath told the outlet. Climate change has affected glaciers all around the world as more than 7 trillion tons of ice have been lost worldwide since 2000, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier in August, more than 1,300 people were killed when a towering section of rock and glacier collapsed near the border of Nepal, China. Glaciers in Switzerland have had the second biggest percentage drop on record with 5.5 percent of their ice volume lost this year. McGrath explained to the outlet that Colorado glaciers thinning could represent the larger problem at stake. 'What we’re witnessing is the loss of that part of Colorado’s identity.

And it’s not just Colorado. Obviously we see it in the Alps and we’re seeing it in other mountain ranges in the western US, the European Alps and globally. There are very clear, consistent patterns across these ranges,' McGrath told the AP. According to University of Northern British Columbia research , Professor Dr Brian Menounos and other scientists found: 'Between 2000 and 2023, glaciers lost between two and 39 per cent of their ice regionally and about five per cent globally.'

According to the Colorado Climate Center, on average, Colorado was 6.1 degrees hotter over the past 12 months in 2026 than it was the entire 20th century According to University of Northern British Columbia research, Professor Dr. Brian Menounos (pictured) and other scientists found: 'Between 2000 and 2023, glaciers lost between two and 39 per cent of their ice regionally and about five per cent globally' Menounos's data also found glaciers in Western Canada and the US lost about 23 per cent of their total volume during that same period. 'This past decade has showed us that these glaciers are out of balance with the climate here in Colorado, in the western U.S., and they’re thinning at a rate that could lead to their demise in the next 20 years,' McGrath told the Seattle Times.

Menounos stated in his research that glaciers could reform if carbon pollution declines and temperatures drop to encourage year-round snowfall but that a dramatic change could take up to several hundreds of years. The Daily Mail has reached out to Dan McGrath and Dr Brian Menounos for comments.