Warming Primed Nepal's Langtang Lirung Slope Before Deadly Collapse, Scientists Say
Long-run warming helped create the conditions for the fatal rock and glacier failure on Nepal's Langtang Lirung Mountain, climate attribution researchers told Inside Climate News.
A World Weather Attribution team examining the Aug. 26 disaster reported that record-hot temperatures gripped the region in the months leading up to it, on the heels of unusually heavy snowfall in late 2025 during what is normally an arid stretch, Inside Climate News reported.
Ancient ice has been hollowed out and the permafrost that holds high slopes together has thawed, making those slopes more prone to failure, per the outlet.
Fredi Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London and a co-author, said thawing permafrost, thinner glaciers and a shift from snow to rain primed the mountain to give way, according to Inside Climate News.
Source: insideclimatenews.org (opens in a new tab)1 sourcePermalink