Western Canada Glaciers Lose Record Ice in 2025

Western Canada’s glaciers suffered the second‑greatest ice loss on record in 2025, with researchers estimating 30 gigatonnes (about the volume of Okanagan Lake) melted. The loss, reported by Brian Menounos, professor of earth sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia and chief scientist at the Hakai Institute’s Airborne Coastal Observatory, followed a 750‑meter retreat of Castle Creek Glacier over the past 50 years. Menounos said the 2025 loss is the second worst year for glacier melt in the region, after 2024. A peer‑reviewed study published in 2025 in the journal *Geophysical Research Letters* documented unprecedented ice loss across Western Canada, the contiguous U.S., and Switzerland from 2021‑2024. The findings underscore the accelerating impact of rising temperatures and reduced snow cover on glacier mass.