Published 8:37 am Wednesday, October 28, 2026

The first comprehensive inventory of the area and volume of western glaciers from Portland State University found 300 have disappeared since the mid-20th century.

Six western states, including Oregon, have lost more than one-third of their glacial cover since 1950 and more than 300 glaciers in those states have disappeared entirely as the earth has rapidly warmed, a first-of-its-kind inventory and analysis confirms.

Researchers at Portland State University and the U.S. Geological Survey built their findings on an earlier analysis that looked at the lost area and volume among 612 federally recognized glaciers in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming since 1950.

In that analysis, they found that 50 are no longer considered glaciers given their size and condition, including 25 in the Cascade Range and seven in Oregon. Geologists consider glaciers to cover at least 25 acres.…