Europe Heatwave Hits Glacier Areas in The Alps After Temperatures Rose Sharply

29th May 2026

Last modified on June 3rd, 2026

Passo Stelvio in Italy started its spring & summer operations last weekend with high spring temperatures.

It joined:

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

However Molltal had its last operations on Sunday and has now called it a day amid the soaring temperatures.

Hintertux remains open, but its glacier park is now shut.

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

“Following an exceptionally hot couple of weeks in the Alps, with record-breaking temperatures in places, the weather is now starting to cool down,” said Fraser Wilkin from weathertoski.co.uk. on Monday 1st June.

“That said, it certainly won’t be cold, but temperatures will just be closer to what is expected at this time of year, with average freezing levels nearer 3000m rather than 4000m, as has been the case over the last couple of weeks, at least in the western Alps.

“There will also be some thunderstorms around, especially on Tuesday when they could be quite violent in places.

“Later next weekend and into next week it will probably become hotter again, but how long this will last is too early to say at this stage.”

The cause of the heatwave was 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 set its fourth hottest month of May since 1864, according to the meteorlogical service MeteoSwiss.

Temperatures were 1.8 degrees Celcius above average.

Last week 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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