A summer of extremes: Weathering a hotter world

In Washington, D.C., this July, America's 250th birthday began with an evacuation. An incoming summer storm forced crowds gathered on the National Mall for fireworks out of the park and indoors. Hours later, the show finally went on, but by then Mother Nature had made her point.

For tens of millions of Americans, the season long associated with getting away has increasingly become something to get away from . In Texas, a second once-in-a-thousand-year flood in 12 months ; in Indiana, outside Tornado Alley, a record 77 twisters ; and there through it all, the heat. July was the hottest month ever in the Lower 48 , breaking a record last set during the Dust Bowl.

July's heat, months of drought, and high winds fueled a brush fire in Spokane, Washington , allegedly started by an arsonist. Within hours, flames had gone from the forest into Ted Chauvin's neighborhood. "We just got the dogs, the cat, the kid, and we just got out," he said.

Asked to describe what he sees when surveying the remains of his family's home, Chauvin replied, "I see where I was diagnosed with cancer, where I beat cancer. Where we had our child, and the memories we gave her in growing up in this place. That honestly has been the hardest part, is the memories, and hearing our kiddo go, 'I miss my house. I miss my house.'"

This year has been Washington State's most destructive wildfire season to date – another new record. "Something's changing," Chauvin said. "And what we need to do is really ask the questions to figure out what to do about it."

The titles of climate journalist Jeff Goodell's bestselling books, such as "The Heat Will Kill You First" and "The Water Will Come" (about rising seas), read like today's headlines. "Summer of 2026 is another step in the escalation of our world into a sort of hotter, more dangerous planet that climate scientists have been telling us about for decades," Goodell said.

Asked if the extreme weather we witness are isolated events or are connected, Goodell replied, "Oh, they're absolutely all connected. We're creating a different world. And we need to think about that and adapt to that world."

But before we can adapt, Goodell says, we have to recognize there is a problem. "We just tend to normalize them, and tend to think, 'Oh, it's just an abnormal year.' 'There's always been a heat wave.' 'It's always been hot in Texas.' You know, 'There's always been big hurricanes,' whatever," he said.

Applying the analogy of frogs in a pot that is slowly boiling that do not notice what's happening around them, Goodel said, "I think that's a very appropriate analogy, for sure. I do think that it captures this idea of these slow changes that, you know, we don't recognize until it's too late."

According to data from the EPA and NOAA, heat waves now occur three times as often as in the 1960s.

It's a similar pattern across the Atlantic. Deadly fires and record heat swept Europe , where air conditioning is still uncommon because it rarely got so hot for so long. Heat is estimated to have claimed more than 10,000 lives in Europe.

"All of human civilization, all of life that we know, has thrived in this sort of Goldilocks Zone," Goodell said.