Europe Heatwave Hits Glacier Areas in The Alps as Temperatures Rise Sharply

by admin in RSS Social News. Posted May 29, 2026

Passo Stelvio in Italy starts its spring & summer operations this weekend with high spring temperatures.

It joins:

Les2Alpes, France
Cervinia/Zermatt, Italy & Switzerland
Hintertux, Austria
Molltal, Austria

This weekend is the last week of operations for Molltal as the resort calls it a day amid soaring temperatures.

Hintertux remains open, but its glacier park is closing this weekend.

The ski area in Hintertux used to be open year-round, but it is now set to close on 26th July.

“After that, we’ll enjoy the glacier summer to the fullest off the slopes,” said the resort.

Skiing is expected to restart in September 2026 and the ‘Hintertux Park Opening’ is scheduled for early October.

Cervinia is now attempting to step into its shoes and offer year-round skiing:

Cervinia aims to offer year-round skiing

It has been a good spring season in the Alps after cold temperatures and good snowfall earlier in May.

The hot weather has changed the picture, but cooler temperatures are set to return next week.

“The weather in the Alps will remain exceptionally hot until the weekend, after which cooler air will slowly move in from the west,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk.

“This historic spring heatwave, in place for nearly a week now, has most impacted the western Alps where freezing levels have been around the 4000m mark, and temperatures in the lower valleys often exceeding 30˚C.

“This would be considered hot even for the middle of summer but, for May, it is exceptional – unprecedented even in places, especially in the French Alps.”

The immediate cause of the heatwave is a “heat dome” with an area of high pressure stuck over Europe.

It traps warm air underneath.

Scientists have little doubt that human-caused climate change, largely the result of the burning of coal, oil and gas has supercharged the heat.

Over the last 30 years, Europe has been warming by 0.56C per decade – more than twice the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.

“When we have a heatwave it’s happening more severely, because it’s on top of a warming climate,” Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the Met Office and a professor at the University of Exeter, told BBC News.

“I’ve been a climate scientist for 33 years and we’re seeing exactly the kinds of things that we were warning back then… [although] these records are perhaps more extreme and coming sooner than we had expected,” he added.

Verbier, Switzerland. Image © PlanetSKI

Switzerland is poised to record its fourth hottest month of May since 1864, according to the meteorlogical service MeteoSwiss.

Temperatures have so far been 1.8 degrees Celcius above average.

Last Monday the freezing level was at 4,328m – the third-highest recorded zero degree day in May.

The spring season in Switzerland is also set to go down in the record books as historically dry with little snow falling at altitude in the Alps.

The Swiss government has issued a Level 2 drought alert, which currently applies to the Alps and the eastern part of the Plateau.

This is equivalent to a mild drought, and no improvement is expected in the short term.

Later this summer the Swiss resort of Saas-Fee is set to join Zermatt in offering summer skiing and snowboarding – if conditions allow.

Elsewhere in Europe there remains some skiing on offer in Scandinavia.

Riksgransen in Sweden is open for weekends (Friday to Sunday)

Norway’s Stryn glacier opened for its 2026 summer ski season last weekend.

It joins its fellow Norwegian resort of Galdhøpiggen.

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