How Grifters Twist Nepal’s Natural Glacier Avalanche to Blame Fossil Fuels.
Avalanches and earthquakes are relatively common in the Himalaya and recently drove Langtang Lirung’s glacier collapses. For example, on the south-facing side of Langtang Lirung, a 7.8 earthquake caused… pic.twitter.com/qrFLpV2WMR
— Jim Steele (@JimSteeleSkepti) August 27, 2026
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Jim Steele: Past Director Sierra Nevada Field Campus, SFSU, ecologist educator author Landscapes & Cycles, proud member CO2 Coalition, World’s Most Honest Climate Scientist
How Grifters Twist Nepal’s Natural Glacier Avalanche to Blame Fossil Fuels. Avalanches and earthquakes are relatively common in the Himalaya and recently drove Langtang Lirung’s glacier collapses. For example, on the south-facing side of Langtang Lirung, a 7.8 earthquake caused an avalanche that destroyed the village of Langtang in 2015 (graphic B). On August 26th, 2026 another tragic avalanche happened on its north-facing side. A block of ice and rock, one km wide by 1.5 km long and as much as 200 m thick, fell 1.2 kilometers to the valley floor, causing the earth to shake so severely, it was first believed that an earthquake had triggered the avalanche. That mistaken attribution was used by a grifting washed-up TV weatherman Gloninger to suggest earthquakes did not cause the Himalayan glacier’s instabilities, so it must be climate change. Likewise, socialists on X like
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and radical environmentalists and many more were quick to post about this Nepal tragedy as evidence of failed economies that burn fossil fuels. However, science provides a far more naturalistic understanding. Although an earthquake may not have triggered the recent devastating avalanche, earthquakes had certainly set the stage for it. Because plate tectonics are still driving India into Asia and uplifting the Himalaya, earthquake events of magnitude 4 or less, occur frequently across the Himalaya. Often daily somewhere along the range. Moderate earthquakes occur every few years in central Nepal and have produced noticeable shaking in the Langtang valley. Such shaking fractures existing glaciers, and creates large, unstable blocks of glacial ice (seracs) formed by intersecting deep cracks (crevasses) that create instabilities that later lead to a glacier’s collapse. The continual Himalayan uplift also created differing topographies on south-facing and north-facing slopes. The south side where the 2015 avalanched occurred experiences a progressive mass loss and thinning glaciers, typical of monsoon-influenced warming. The north-side, where the 2026 avalanche happened, consists of extremely steep cliffs with hanging glaciers that are far more vulnerable to destabilization. Langtang’s steep faces and hanging glaciers produce avalanches frequently, ranging from small, regular ice falls to rare, valley-reaching events. In contrast to ignorant grifting alarmists who blame fossil fuel warming for shrinking glaciers and glacier instabilities, the adjacent Karakoram mountain range (graphic A) has experienced very stable and growing glaciers. Global warming can’t drive both changes! Grifters, with limited scientific understanding, have been quick to argue a warming trend created melt water that lubricates the glacier-ground interface and destabilizes the glaciers. Grifters like Gloninger claim temperatures have warmed 50% faster in this region, as if that is the only evidence needed to blame burning fossil fuels. However, on Langtang Lirung, at the 5200 meter elevation where the rock-ice block first separated to start the 2026 avalanche, the average summer temperature is still below freezing at -6°C to -8°C (21°F to 17°F). During the warmest summer period, mid-day averages reach 2°C to 6°C (36°F to 43°F) but night temperatures stay near -2°C to -5°C (28°F to 23°F). Furthermore, science suggests air temperatures are not affecting the surface ice. The top few meters of a glacier, rapidly respond to air temperature, sunshine, and seasons. Nonetheless winter cold and summer warmth only penetrate about 10–20 m from the glaciers’ surface. Thus, changes in atmospheric temperature are unlikely to provide “lubricating” melt water in 200-meter thick glaciers. Below the shallow “seasonal layer,” temperature is steady and often close to the local mean annual air temperature, which again averages summer temperature below freezing at -6°C to -8°C (21°F to 17°F). Still studies show the glacier-ground interface is almost always warmer than the ice above it for 3 main reasons: 1) Because ice is such a good insulator, the geothermal heat rising from Earth’s interior accumulates at the glacier’s bottom. 2) frictional heat from ice sliding over rock adds to the temperature. 3) Under thick ice, the melting point is lower due to pressure effects. So even if the surface is –30 °C or colder, the bed of a 2–3 km ice sheet can sit at or very near 0 °C. Global warming is not a factor. It is true that ice frozen into the rocks and sediments can act like glue that holds the sediments together. There are studies that show a change in surface temperature from -10°C to 0°C can weaken that “ice glue” by 78%. Still, that doesn’t mean, CO2 warmed air temperatures have caused the un-gluing” instability. The science suggests geothermal heat the most likely cause of any temperature changes causing instabilities in the glacier-ground interface
Jim, I was just last night looking at some pictures of this very mountain, and it is shocking how steep it is and how precariously some giant blocks of ice are perched on nearly vertical slopes!
It is hard to see how they are not falling off every day.This is listed as the 99th… pic.twitter.com/rNDCqGpBx1
— Nick McGinley (@NickMcGinley1) August 28, 2026
