Glacier Status in Montana, 2015

UPDATE ON GLACIER’S ICONIC ICE

North America’s iconic glaciers have stepped further toward oblivion. In 2015, the 25 remaining glaciers in Glacier National Park, Montana, suffered their worst season in a decade. The poor health of three glaciers, in particular, stands out this past year. Sperry Glacier just had its worse year, for shrinking ice, since 2005. Grinnell Glacier lost 13 acres this past summer, most of it from a single calving event into the iceberg-strewn lake beneath it. Swiftcurrent’s ice was exposed, without snow cover, for the entire summer, so it may have lost a few acres as well. The last glaciers, already down from an original 150 glaciers, may lose more of their number in the year to come. For more information on Glacier National Park, read “The Melting World: A Journey Across America’s Vanishing Glaciers,” available at bookstores.