Glaciers 'All Gone by the Year 2020'
Park Signs: Glaciers Will 'All Be Gone by the Year 2020.' The Glaciers Outlasted the Signs.
Exhibits at Glacier National Park told visitors that computer models showed every glacier gone by 2020. In 2020 the glaciers were still there. The signs were not.
What was said
“Computer models indicate the glaciers will all be gone by the year 2020.”
— Glacier National Park, US National Park Service (visitor-centre exhibit signs) · due the year 2020
2020 arrived and the park still had its glaciers: smaller every year, but present and accounted for.
Then vs Now
Promised: park glaciers all gone by the year 2020
Named glaciers in the park that still met the size criteria, per the latest aerial imagery the park cites (2015) (as of 2015)
The Story
The 'Goodbye to Glaciers' exhibits carried the line quoted above (as reported by the Daily Mail). A park spokeswoman told CNN the signs were added 'more than a decade ago' to reflect US Geological Survey forecasts; the exact installation date isn't documented in these sources.
The park's own page says researchers had 'informally' moved an earlier 2030 estimate up to 2020, and 'these predictive dates spread widely and were featured on various exhibits around the park.'
Later spin
The park says it was told by the USGS in 2017 that the glaciers were no longer expected to vanish so quickly, and it replaced the most prominent signs, at St. Mary Visitor Center, in 2019 (CNN). The new wording: 'When they will completely disappear depends on how and when we act.'
Receipts
- Glacier National Park is replacing signs that predicted its glaciers would be gone by 2020 - CNN (January 8, 2020)accessed 2026-09-29
- Montana national park forced to remove signs warning 'all glaciers will be gone by 2020' - Daily Mail (January 2020)accessed 2026-09-29
- Glacier's Glaciers - Glacier National Park (US National Park Service)accessed 2026-09-29