Europe is losing its natural mountain water storage

Since 1980, the snow cover across Europe has shrunk by 20 percent, stripping away the continent's most effective cooling system. Fresh snow acts like a mirror, reflecting 80 percent of the sun's heat back into space. As that snow vanishes, it reveals dark rock that absorbs twice as much solar energy, creating a self-heating loop that accelerates the melt. In the Alps alone, the ice has thinned by 50 meters over the last century, leaving behind 10,000 new glacial lakes that pose a constant risk of flash flooding.