Warm, dry summer leaves the Matterhorn almost snow-free

A warm, dry summer and a snow-poor winter have left the Matterhorn with little snow, changing a familiar image of the Swiss mountain, SRF reported.

A photograph of the nearly bare mountain has been circulating on social media. September is usually the month with the least snow there, but this year’s conditions are extreme, said meteorologist Silvan Rusch of SRF Meteo. There was little fresh snow in the high mountains over summer, and a cold spell that brought snow in September last year did not recur this year.

Research suggests hot, dry summers will become more frequent as the climate changes, Rusch said, so little snow in the high mountains toward the end of summer may also become more common. But weather varies considerably, and some summers will still bring more snow.

Norman Backhaus, a human geographer at the University of Zurich, called the Matterhorn an icon of Switzerland. When a familiar landscape changes quickly, people can feel they are losing something, he said. The new images of snowless mountains can challenge a sense of home, though they do not necessarily undermine it altogether.

Fresh snow would restore the mountain’s white appearance, but it does not always cool the ground. A thin covering can cool it, while a thick layer on less steep slopes can insulate the ground and trap summer heat, said Marcia Phillips, head of permafrost research at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research. In the previous winter, which had little snow, the ground at some monitoring sites was able to cool particularly well.

The mountain’s familiar snowy appearance also features in tourism advertising. Backhaus said the industry may need to consider which images it promotes, as visitors could be surprised or disappointed by what they see. The postcard image of the Matterhorn may change, he said, though people can grow used to a new one.