300 Glaciers Gone: New Review Reveals the Scale of Ice Loss in the American West

In the middle of the 20th century, roughly 1,450 glaciers could be found across the western United States. Today, their combined area has shrunk by 35%, and the ice continues to retreat, reshaping a landscape long defined by snow-capped peaks and frozen reservoirs of freshwater.

A recent report revealed that a little more than 300 glaciers have disappeared from the lower 48 U.S. states due to rising temperatures, while the rest are rapidly shrinking. The findings, published in the Proceedings…