How to stay safe when it's cold and there's a power outage

Photo by S. Modak, Unsplash

Whether it's 32 degrees or -5 degrees, prolonged exposure to cold air takes a toll on the human body. For rural residents living in remote areas far from help, or in regions not accustomed to colder temperatures, knowledge about coping with cold, including proper clothing, and supplies for extended power outages can save lives, reports Devi Shastri of The Associated Press.

Cold can be stealthy. "Some of the most dangerous situations happen when the temperature is low for a long time, even 30 to 40 F," Shastri writes, "In these situations, long-term cold exposure taxes the body, driving up blood pressure and working the heart." A person who is shivering needs to be warmed as soon as possible.

Drinking plenty of water helps people stay warm. Drinking alcohol isn't advised because it can make people feel warmer than they are.

Wearing layers of dry clothes, especially dry socks, is one of the best ways to help the body trap heat. "The North Carolina Department of Emergency Management suggests wearing warm, loose-fitting, lightweight clothing in many layers that are easy to add or remove," Shastri reports. "It also recommends covering your mouth with scarves to protect the lungs from directly breathing in extremely cold air."

Smaller spaces will stay warmer. If you're waiting for the heat to come back on, move into a smaller room. Some sources even suggest pitching a tent in a room and climbing into a sleeping bag to add heat.

Check on your neighbors. "Young children, older adults and people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure are the most at risk when it’s cold," Shastri adds. "Community awareness is key during dangerous cold spells. Many don’t realize they need help until someone asks."

Higher energy prices and older residences mean more rural residents will struggle to stay warm this winter

Many rural residents will struggle to afford heat this winter. 
(Photo by Nadine Marfurt, Unsplash)

Rural residents can struggle to pay their utility bills during the winter months because they face barriers to conserving heat, such as living in older homes or apartments that can be drafty and lack energy-saving features. They are also more likely to have limited access to aid programs designed to help Americans afford energy while avoiding utility debt.

Roughly 80 million Americans have trouble paying their monthly heat and electricity bills. "Now, as the cost of energy climbs, experts say more people are at risk of energy insecurity and poverty, defined by the struggle or inability to keep up with electric, heating, and cooling bills," reports Julia Tilton of The Daily Yonder. 

As electricity and gas rates continue to increase across the U.S., the number of rural residents who can't afford their utility bills has soared. "In the South and Appalachia, rates of severe utility debt were nearly twice as high as of June 2025, per analysis from the Century Foundation economic think tank," Tilton reports. "With winter approaching, home heating costs are expected to outpace inflation."

Maria Castillo, a senior associate on the electricity team at energy think tank RMI, told Tilton, "Who we understand as experiencing energy poverty is unfortunately expanding because of the affordability pressures brought on by rising prices and the volatility of gas prices."

While many rural families qualify for federal utility support through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, completing LIHEAP paperwork can prevent rural residents from accessing energy aid.

Katrina Metzler, the executive director for the National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition, told Tilton, "If they’re having trouble affording their utility bills, can they also afford gasoline to get in the car and drive many miles, however many it might be, to reach the office where assistance is available and complete the application?” 

Cooling off from summer sizzle will cost nearly 4% more this year

A hose may be the cheapest way to cool off
this summer. (Photo by J. Tyson, Unsplash)

Summer sun and heat might be good for beachgoers, but climbing summer temperatures will mean spiking power bills for U.S. consumers. Reasons for ballooning energy costs include higher natural gas prices, grid upgrade costs passed on to utility customers and increased domestic demand.

"Electricity prices across the country have increased 4.5% in the past year, topping the 2.2% jump in the price of groceries," reports Jennifer Hiller of The Wall Street Journal. "Consumer prices rose 2.4% in May from a year earlier."

Whether U.S. consumers flip on fans or crank the air, most will pay roughly 4% more "because of a jump in natural gas prices, the largest source of power generation," Hiller explains. "Natural gas deliveries to power plants will cost about 50% more from June through September than last year."

That's painful. "The higher bills are putting a strain on the wallets of consumers who are already stretched thin by rising costs for food, shelter and insurance," Hiller writes. "The average household power bill will reach $784 for the combined period from June to September."

Many Americans started the summer months already behind on their electrical bills. "Mark Wolfe, the executive director at the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, said one of every six U.S. households is behind on their electricity or natural gas bills," Hiller reports. "Customers owed gas and electric utilities more than $24 billion in late payments as of March."

Despite the pinch consumers are bound to feel, several utility companies are asking regulators to approve rate increases. "In Florida, NextEra Energy’s Florida Power & Light is asking regulators to let it increase rates between 1% and 5% a year through 2029," Hiller adds. "About $9.3 billion in additional electricity costs will begin trickling down to customers in the PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest grid operator and wholesale electricity market."

In some markets, AI data centers are "stressing the grid." In other places, increased demand is partially driven by electric vehicles. "Across the U.S., the growing pains are sparking fights over how to pay for upgrades and costs," Hiller reports. "The power industry also warns that a rollback of the clean-energy tax credits offered under the Inflation Reduction Act would push electricity prices higher, too."

HHS fires staff dedicated to helping low-income Americans pay for utilities: 'There's nobody left to do anything'

About 17% of U.S. households spend more than one-
tenth of their income on energy. (Adobe Stock photo)

A recent staffing purge of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program employees at the Department of Health and Human Services may leave millions of low-income Americans unable to pay their utility bills. "The Trump administration abruptly laid off the entire staff running a $4.1 billion program to help low-income households across the United States pay their heating and cooling bills," reports Brad Plumer of The New York Times. The loss of assistance could burden millions of poorer rural residents who already spend a disproportionate amount of their incomes on energy bills when compared to their more urban counterparts.

It's unclear how a program that routinely helps roughly 6.1 million Americans can continue to offer assistance without any employees to administer payments. Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which works with states to secure funding from the program, told Plumer, “They fired everybody. There’s nobody left to do anything. Either this was incredibly sloppy, or they intend to kill the program altogether.”

While most of the 2025 funds have been paid, a remaining $378 million hangs in the balance. Plumer explains, "Congress had approved $4.1 billion for the program for fiscal year 2025, and about 90% of that money had already been sent to states in October to help households struggling with high heating costs." The $378 million could help lower-income residents pay for summer air-conditioning bills, but LIHEAP disbursements seem unlikely without program staffing.

The firings angered several Democratic lawmakers. Plumer reports, "Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat who represents a largely rural district in Maine that voted for President Trump, wrote in a social media post, 'What efficiency is achieved by firing everyone in Maine whose job is to help Mainers afford heating oil when it’s cold?'" Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, referred to the LIHEAP staff eliminations as "sabotage."

A study published last year in The Economic Journal "found that roughly 17% of U.S. households spend more than one-tenth of their income on energy, a threshold that researchers often define as a 'severe' energy burden," Plumer adds. "The study also found a strong relationship between energy affordability and winter mortality."

Rural lands are cooler than urban spaces; a study suggests a new way to reduce sizzling urban temperatures

Strategic use of rural land and water bodies could
help cool cities. (Adobe Stock photo)

The heat is on cities to do something about sweltering and unhealthy urban temperatures. Researchers looked at the problem and said, "Rural can cool," and began work on configurations where city heat could be mitigated by country cool, reports Erin Blakemore of The Washington Post. "Rural land surrounding urban areas could reduce city temperatures by up to half a degree Celsius, an analysis in Nature Cities suggests, hinting at a way to cool increasingly scorching urban areas."

Scientists studied 30 cities in China "to understand how rural land cover affects urban heat islands — a phenomenon in which cities become significantly warmer than the areas surrounding them." Blakemore explains. "Researchers concluded neighboring rural land cover can explain about 30 percent of such regions’ effect on urban heat. . . . Air warms in cities, leaving a low-pressure zone near the ground that then helps transport cooler air from surrounding rural areas. The rural areas then go on to absorb the heat."

The study's analysis concluded with specific recommendations on how to "use less dense, less expensive rural land to increase cities’ cooling capacities," Blakemore reports. "Planting woodland around cities and consolidating bodies of water in rural areas are potential ways to cool cities. . . . By better regulating rural land, the researchers suggest, it could be possible to both maintain rural landscapes and boost rural economies while making urban areas cooler and more sustainable."

Friday quick hits: Rural top-flick picks; dairy funds; heat can kill; racial voting division; bread debate; hop on a new train

Eita Okuno, Anna Sawai, and Hiromoto Ida in 'Shōgun.' (FX /IMDb image via The Daily Yonder)

On steamy days when the pool is too crowded and you can't handle any more of Mother Nature's energy-sucking heat, it might be time to chill indoors and take in a rural flick. From the "Mad Max Saga" to wrestling's fierce Von Erich family drama to the stunning "craftsmanship and costuming" in "Shōgun," Adam B. Giorgi of The Daily Yonder has some fine movie picks that will make relaxing in the AC much more fun.

In states with the highest number of drug overdose deaths, patients in treatment for mental illness often live with an opioid use disorder that mental health clinics are unable to treat, a study showed. "Despite high rates of opioid use disorder among people with mental health disorders, only a third of community outpatient mental health treatment facilities in 20 high-burden states offered medications for OUD," reports Shannon Firth of MedPage Today. "Among the 450 community outpatient mental health treatment facilities surveyed, weighted estimates showed that 34% offered medications for OUD, reported study co-author Jonathan Cantor, PhD. JAMA Network Open published the study in June.

Jersey Scoops capitalized on the USDA's new small
dairy initiative. (Jersey Scoops photo)

What's better than locally made ice cream or homestead cheeses? More of both. At least that's what the Department of Agriculture seems to think. The USDA is funding a new initiative that "aims to transform and diversify the dairy industry, one small producer at a time," reports Naoki Nitta of Civil Eats. "At 'Jersey Scoops' in Loleta, a small, unincorporated community in Northern California’s Humboldt County, the ice cream is as fresh as it gets. From pasture to parlor, its organic, butterfat-rich milk travels less than 10 miles, produced by a herd of Jerseys pasture-raised on the misty coast. . . . But Jersey Scoops didn’t get here on their own; they leveraged a $60,000 grant from the Pacific Coast Coalition’s Dairy Business Innovation Initiative to secure both the space and equipment." Learn about how local cheese ventures are leveraging this funding here.

As global temperatures continue to spike, awareness of heat-related illnesses is especially vital for outdoor workers and their employers. Heat can make workers sick, but it can also be deadly, reports Seth Borenstein of The Associated Press. "With much of the United States, Mexico, India and the Middle East suffering through blistering heat waves. . . several doctors, physiologists and other experts explained what happens to the human body in such heat." To find out how heat kills, click here.

Handmade bread is much different than mass produced
loaves. (Bluegrass Baking Company photo)

Bread is considered a U.S. family staple for affordable nutrition, but the processing that creates a uniform and stay-fresh loaf has landed "packaged bread in the middle of a fraught debate over 'ultra-processed food,'" reports Jesse Newman for The Wall Street Journal. "Less-processed foods tend to be more expensive and quicker to spoil. . . . For bakers like Jim Betts, owner of Bluegrass Baking Company in Lexington, Ky., most packaged bread is a far cry from the food that has been sustaining humanity for at least 10,000 years." To read why homemade bread is so dramatically different and more pricey than store-bought loaves, click here.

The U.S. rural-urban voter divide primarily exists among whites, a new study published in Politics, Groups, and Identities found. Kate Blackwood for PHYS.org reports, "When it comes to politics, Black and Latino residents of rural America differ far less, if at all, from their urban counterparts than do non-Hispanic white residents, the researchers report." One of the study's authors, Suzanne Mettler, told Blackwood, "Rural and urban Americans began moving apart politically in the late 1990s, and the division has widened and deepened since then. . .We wanted to know whether all Americans, regardless of race and ethnicity, are swept up in this growing cleavage.

A Borealis Amtrak train rounds the corner
surrounded by Midwestern fall colors. (Amtrak photo)

Midwestern states have been busy working to add more train services to their transportation portfolios. The new Amtrak Borealis service between Chicago and St. Paul opened last month after 12 years of planning, reports Daniel C. Volk of Route Fifty. "The new service was also a breakthrough. It is the first new passenger route launched in Minnesota since 1975, and the first in Wisconsin in more than two decades. . . . Officials in both states — like dozens of others across the country — are now planning for even more new passenger routes, because of incentives in President Joe Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law." Borealis trains include wide reclining seats, ample legroom, free Wi-Fi and views of the Mississippi River between St. Paul and La Crosse, Wisc., in daylight in both directions across Wisconsin.

Expert explains how to use the heat index and other weather tools to stay safe and healthy this summer

The start of summer is an excellent time to create schedules and workloads based on heat safety. To get started, risk communication researcher Micki Olson reviews heat index warnings, including what they mean and how they can be used to understand how heat impacts the human body. She also gives tips on how to avoid heat-related illnesses.

What is the heat index? The heat index is the combination of the actual air temperature and relative humidity. "It tells you what it 'feels like' outside when you factor in the humidity. For example, if it's 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 Celsius) with 55% relative humidity, it might feel more like a scorching 117 F (47.2 C)," Olson explains. "But there's a catch: Heat index is measured in shady conditions to prevent the sun's angle from affecting its calculation. This means if you're in direct sunlight, it will feel even hotter.

Apparent temperature is another "feels like" indicator; however, it factors in temperature, humidity and wind speed. "This means it can tell us both the heat index and wind chill – or the combination of the temperature and wind speed," Olson writes. "When conditions are humid, it feels hotter, and when it's windy, it feels colder."

Another term meteorologists use is the "wet bulb globe temperature," which includes temperature, humidity, wind and sunlight. Olson reports, "It's especially useful for those who spend time outdoors, such as workers and athletes, because it reflects conditions in direct sunlight."

Signs of extreme heat illnesses
(CDC sign via The Conversation)

HeatRisk is a forecasting tool the National Weather Service uses to provide a seven-day outlook for hot weather. The tool uses a five-level scale to indicate how risky the heat level is in a specific area. Each level uses a color and number to represent risks from heat exposure.

To stay safe during summer's sultry and sometimes oppressive heat, Olson recommends:

• Stay cool: Use air conditioning in your home, or spend time in air-conditioned spaces, such as a shopping mall or public library. Limit or reschedule your exercise and other outdoor plans that occur in the middle of the day when it is hottest.
• Stay hydrated: Drink more water than you might otherwise, even if you don’t feel thirsty, so your body can regulate its temperature by sweating. But avoid sugary drinks, caffeine or drinks with alcohol, because these can cause you to become dehydrated.
• Stay informed: Know the signs of heat illness and symptoms that can occur, such as dizziness, weakness, thirst, heavy sweating and nausea. Know what to do and when to get help, because heat illnesses can be deadly.

Micki Olson

Micki Olson is a senior researcher in emergency and risk communication at the State University of New York. This excerpt was pulled from her contribution to The Conversation, a platform for journalism by academics. Her entire article and research can be found here.

Florida lawmakers work to ban local governments from implementing temperature protections for outdoor workers

Summer temps in Florida are regularly in the 90s.
(Photo by Xavier Coiffic, Unsplash)

Some Florida lawmakers are working to pass a bill that removes temperature protection regulations for employees. That same bill also would ban local "living wage" ordinances, which create higher minimum wage standards than the state requirement. "A measure that will ban local governments from passing heat-protection ordinances inspired strong emotions from the public . . . ," reports Mitch Perry for the Florida Phoenix. "The bill also eliminates living wage ordinances that require companies that receive government contracts to pay their employees more than the state's minimum wage (currently $12 an hour)."

This past fall, the Miami-Dade County Commission had planned a vote on a local ordinance that "would protect outdoor workers in the agriculture and construction industries, which, if passed, would be the first law of its kind in the South," Perry adds. "That proposal was introduced after at least two farmworkers died from excessive heat in South Florida earlier last year."

The Florida chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors pushed back against the local heat protection ordinance, saying regulation "inconsistencies" could cause more accidents. Meanwhile, local businesses "lined up behind the provision that would prohibit cities and counties from creating 'livable wage' ordinances for their contractors and subcontractors," Perry explains. "[These] ordinances are now in effect in 11 local governments in the state to combat higher living costs."

North Miami-Dade County Democratic Rep. Dotie Joseph "blasted the proposal, saying that her GOP colleagues were being negligent in taking away Miami-Dade's or any other local government's ability to protect outdoor workers," Perry reports. Joseph told reporters, "When local governments try to do something about it so that it doesn't happen again, here we show up at the state level and say, 'no, we don't mind a couple of more people dying.' That's basically what we're saying, functionally. So we're okay with workers dying."

Extreme heat puts your heart and other organs at risk

Heat can be deadly, as this sign in Death Valley National Park
warns. (Photo by David McNew, Getty Images via NPR)

Extreme heat is the most deadly kind of weather for humans, and the body's main cooling mechanism, sweat, is not enough for extreme temperatures and humidity, so people risk organ failure, heart attack and kidney failure, reports Maria Godoy of NPR.

Organ failure can sneak up on you. "When your body is exposed to heat, it will try to cool itself down by redirecting more blood to the skin, says Ollie Jay, a professor of heat and health at the University of Sydney, where he directs the Heat and Health Research Incubator," Godoy notes. "But that means less blood and less oxygen are going to your gut. If these conditions go on long enough, your gut can become more permeable. Jay told her: "So, nasty things like endotoxins that usually reside and stay inside the gut start leaking out of the gut, entering the circulation. And that sets off a cascade of effects that ultimately result in death."

When the body redirects blood to the skin, the heart has to pump faster, "which can make you feel lightheaded – to keep your blood pressure up," Godoy explains. But not all hearts can manage a sudden or sustained jump in pace. "Those spikes in the heart rate can be triggers for a heart attack, Jay says, especially for the elderly and those with underlying heart conditions."

Sweat can only do so much, and comes with its own limitation: hydration, Godoy notes. "People can sweat as much as a liter and half per hour, Jay says. And if you don't replenish those fluids, you get dehydrated and your blood volume shrinks, which makes it harder to maintain blood pressure. That can strain your heart and your kidneys," and people with kidney disorders can be at greater risk.

Signs of mild heat exhaustion include headaches, dizziness, lethargy, and feeling unwell in general, Godoy notes: "If that happens, Jay says, get out of the heat and into the shade or indoors ASAP. Drink plenty of water and wet your clothes and skin. Immersing your feet in cold water can also help. . . . Jay says the goal is to cool down so you don't progress to severe heat exhaustion, where you might start vomiting or seem to lose coordination – signs of neurological disturbance. If your core body temperature rises to about 104 degrees Fahrenheit, Jay says, that's where you risk heatstroke."

Drought and heat roundup: Arizona and Nevada face new water restrictions; corn and cotton harvests weak; how heat disproportionately targets the vulnerable

Heat and drought are gripping much of the Western U.S. Here's the latest news:

"With water levels in the Colorado River near their lowest point ever, Arizona and Nevada on Tuesday faced new restrictions on the amount of water they can pump out of the river, the most important in the Southwest," Henry Fountain reports for The New York Times. "And the threat of more cuts looms. This week, those two states along with five others failed to meet a deadline for agreement on much steeper cuts in water use, raising the prospect that the federal government will step in and mandate further reductions." 

The Bureau of Reclamation, the Interior Department agency which oversees water resource management, "announced it would withhold 592,000 acre-feet, or about 21% of Arizona's annual water allocation, out of the river for 2023. Nevada would see an 8% cut in its allocation -- 25,000 acre-feet -- and Mexico would see a 7% reduction in river flows across the border, or about 104,000 acre-feet," Chris Clayton reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer.

The drought has triggered the weakest cotton harvest in more than a decade and sent prices soaring. "U.S. agricultural forecasters expect drought-struck farmers to walk away from more than 40% of the 12.5 million acres they sowed with cotton and harvest the smallest area since Reconstruction," Ryan Dezember reports for The Wall Street Journal. "Back then, in 1868, yields per acre were less than a fifth of what they are today, but the market for cotton was vastly smaller too."

Drought and heat have also been hard on U.S. corn, production of which is expected to be 5% less than last year. In Kentucky, the forecast is down 26% even though most of the state got sufficient rain when the corn was tasseling; farmers say excessive heat in June stunted growth.

People who live in mobile homes comprise a disproportionately high percentage of indoor heat deaths, according to a paper recently published in the Washington Journal of Social & Environmental Justice. Residents typically don't own the land beneath their homes and often lack resources to bring down indoor temperatures or a meaningful voice in driving policy changes that could help them. Read more here. Heat hurts the most vulnerable in other ways: people of color, seniors, those with underlying health conditions, people addicted to opioids, and people without consistent housing are all more likely to die from extreme heat, Arianna Skibell reports for Politico.

Quick hits: Q&A on Mar-a-Lago search; 'corn sweat' boosts Midwest heat wave; rural German gun culture different

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

FactCheck.org has a Q&A on the search of Mar-a-Lago. Read more here.

Many suspected the story of a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who sought an abortion in Indiana was a hoax, but local journalists were the key to proving it wasn't. Read more here.

One more reason for the heatwave in the Midwest: 'corn sweat' is making the air incredibly humid. Read more here.

Westerners struggle to manage booming wild horse populations. Read more here.

Nearly 40% of Americans in a recent poll said they're tired of the two-party political system. Read more here.

A writer who grew up in rural Germany says guns were ubiquitous there but mass shootings weren't. That's because of key differences in gun culture and government regulation, she writes. Read more here.

More farmers are switching from herbicide dicamba, but that leaves their crops vulnerable to those who still use it

"Among the many moving targets to keep an eye on this season is off-target dicamba injury in soybeans. And it’s already evident in Midwestern states," Megan Schilling reports for Successful Farming. Agronomists and others in Iowa say they've seen what appear to be dicamba injuries to soybeans that aren't genetically modified to resist the herbicide. "There are reports of widespread damage to soybeans in southern Illinois and complaints of pesticide misuse that specifically mention damage to trees. The signs are cupping in soybean leaves and bare trees in July and August."

Agronomists had hoped to see less off-target damage this year since many farmers switched from using dicamba-based herbicides to Enlist, a Dow Chemcial system developed to replace Roundup (both contain glyphosate), Schilling reports. The widespread adoption of Enlist means that, even though less dicamba has been sprayed overall, more acres are vulnerable to it.

"As long as we have dicamba, it's not a question of if we ever will see off-target injury in a year, the only unknown is how extensive it will be," Aaron Hager, associate professor and faculty Extension specialist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Schilling.

The heat doesn't help, Hager said: "When there is widespread use of a volatile product like dicamba at times of the growing season where temperatures are much higher than normal, we continue to see the effects across the landscape." Researchers have found that plenty of rain or weekly irrigation are the best ways to help dicamba-injured soybeans recover, but drought can put those options out of reach. Windbreaks with multiple rows of perennial trees and shrubs have also been found to minimize damage, Schilling reports.

Heat roundup: States help farmers in drought; industries resist mitigation for workers; mountain snowpack shrinks

While Central Appalachia struggles to recover from record flooding, parts of the western U.S. face the opposite problem: a searing drought that's drying up water sources, killing livestock and withering crops. Here's some of the latest related news:

Farmers in rural Arizona and Minnesota complain that mega-dairy operations (both owned by the same Minnesota company) are depleting and polluting the aquifers they rely on for irrigation. Read more here.

As of last week, 234 million acres of crops in 42 states were in varying levels of drought. Route Fifty looks at how three states—Iowa, Kansas, and Utah—are trying to help their farmers. Read more here.

Extreme heat is making outdoor work more dangerous, but most industries are pushing back against efforts to ensure safe working conditions in the heat. Read more here.

Experts say climate change threatens farmworkers' health in several ways. Not only is working in extreme heat dangerous, but the heat increases the risk of wildfires; even farmworkers hundreds of miles away can be injured from inhaling the smoke. Read more here.

Heat and drought are drying up the mountain snowpack that feeds rivers vital for irrigation and drinking water. Losing that snowpack threatens to upend the lives of 76 million Americans. Read more here.

Longer, hotter summers are 'creating inhospitable conditions and endangering lives,' says The Washington Post

Washington Post map shows temperature changes in the nation's four major climate zones.

"Though the summer season of 2022 is young, parts of the nation already have experienced punishingly high temperatures, extreme drought, wildfires, severe storms, flooding or some combination. Projections from federal agencies suggest more abnormally hot weather, an expansion of drought and well above average wildfire and hurricane activity in the months ahead," The Washington Post reports. "Summer has always been a turbulent season, a time of checking weather forecasts and watching the skies. And despite the major shifts that have taken place, many people still relish the season. Vacationers still flock to places that now face some degree of wildfire or flood risk. But climate change is increasingly pushing summer to extremes, creating inhospitable conditions and endangering lives."

The phenomenon is driven by climate change and by urban growth, which increases asphalt and reduces greenery; cities absorb and retain more heat. But the hotter summers are "a clear change from previous generations. The average summer temperature in the past five years has been 1.7 degrees (0.94 Celsius) warmer than it was from 1971 through 2000, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration., the Post reports. "But some parts of the country have been much harder hit, with the West showing a 2.7 degrees (1.5 Celsius) increase."

Heat waves are becoming more more frequent and intense, and nighttime temps are warming faster than daytime temps in most parts of the country; hotter nights make it difficult for people—and livestock—to cool down after a hot day, the Post reports. Meanwhile, high-heat days are happening at least a week earlier on average compared to fifty years ago. The heat is lengthening wildfire season out West and causing a historic drought. In the East, the hotter temperatures help cause heavy rains and worse flooding. It's straining both the electrical grid and hospital systems that serve the vulnerable.

Extreme weather kills cattle, stresses crops, risks workers

Drought conditions as of June 14 (U.S. Drought Monitor map; click on it for larger, clearer version)

Extreme weather is hammering rural America:

The Western U.S. is seeing the worst drought in 1,200 years, say scientists. The extreme drought has depleted groundwater, melted snowpack, and dried out lakes, and it's going to get worse, Kasha Patel and Lauren Tierney report for The Washington Post.

Most of the U.S. is dealing with extreme weather of one kind or another. Read more here.

The heat in the Southwest is putting outdoor workers at much higher risk of health problems or even death. Read more here.

The heat is also stressing crops. Some farmers talk about how they're dealing with it. Read more here.

Yellowstone National Park's northern half is unlikely to reopen this summer after historic flooding. It's already hurting nearby towns that rely on tourism to survive. Read more here.

A heat wave in Kansas has killed around 10,000 head of cattle, according to an early estimate. Heat kills cattle every summer, but they're often able to survive thanks to cooler nights. But high humidity in Kansas is keeping it hot at night, leaving livestock without relief, and hot weather hit earlier than usual. Read more here.

One agricultural journalist notes that conspiracy theories are already circulating about the Kansas cattle deaths and urges journalists to focus on facts. Read more here.

Climate change effects increasingly drive U.S. migration

U.S. counties that would be affected by a six-foot sea-level rise are in blue, based on a 2020 study. Inland counties are shaded in red according to how many migrants they would likely receive from coastal areas. (PLOS ONE map)

"Worsening climate effects, including heat waves, wildfires, floods, droughts, and sea-level rise, are leading a growing number of Americans to have second thoughts about where they are living and to decide to move to places that are perceived to be less exposed to these impacts . . . such as New England or the Appalachian Mountains. Researchers say this phenomenon will intensify in the coming decades," Jon Hurdle reports for Yale Environment 360. Some are forced to move because of current or frequent threats, while others choose to move before disasters force them to.

The phenomenon will become increasingly common in the coming years, and temperate Northern states will see the most incoming migration, according to researchers like Jesse Keenan, an associate professor of real estate in Tulane University's architecture school. "Keenan, who studies the intersection of climate change adaptation and the built environment, estimated that 50 million Americans could eventually move within the country to regions such as New England or the Upper Midwest in search of a haven from severe climate impacts," Hurdle reports. "He predicted that migration driven by increasingly uninhabitable coastal areas is likely to happen sooner rather than later, citing the latest federal estimate that U.S. coastal sea levels will rise by as much as a foot by 2050. Another projection, by Matthew Hauer, an assistant professor of sociology at Florida State University, is that 13.1 million Americans will relocate because of sea-level rise alone by 2100, based on projections that seas along the U.S. coast will rise by an average of 1.8 meters — nearly six feet — by then."

However, not everyone is as concerned about climate change (or at least not concerned enough for it to change where they move), since many Americans have moved to disaster-prone states such as Texas and Florida during the pandemic, Hurdle reports.

Climate change keeps pushing fall leaf change back; the shift may endanger forests and tourism dollars

A forest in Newark, Vermont, in October (Getty Images photo by Tayfun Coskun)

You may have noticed that the trees were especially late in changing colors this fall. Scientists say it's probably the new normal. "From Vermont to North Carolina, fall foliage appeared behind schedule this year—continuing a long-term trend that, according to one recent study of maples by researchers at George Mason University, has pushed the appearance of fall colors back more than a month since the 19th century," Sarah Gibbens reports for National Geographic.

Climate change is a cause: "This past October was the world’s fourth warmest October in a 142-year record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s no surprise: The eight warmest Octobers have come in the last eight years. And the Northeast, which is most famous for fall foliages, is warming faster than the rest of North America," Gibbens reports. But temperature isn't the only reason for the leaves' delay: "Precipitation or the lack of it, extreme weather, and insect infestations all play a role. As climate change affects all those factors, it’s making the timing of peak foliage harder to predict."

That could disrupt leaf-peeping and other fall-centered tourism that generates as much as $30 billion each year nationwide. Scientists say the delays in leaf coloration disrupt trees' annual growth cycles and could destroy some forests. "While nobody wants to be the 'sky is falling' kind of person, we do understand these changes are the plants telling us something is not right," GMU ecologist Rebecca Forkner told Gibbens.

Heat roundup: Dixie Fire survivors share stories of loss and uncertainty; farmworkers at higher risk of heat-wave deaths

The Dixie Fire is about five times the size of Disneyland
and is only 30% contained. (Google Maps screenshot)

More than half of the 48 contiguous states are under heat advisories as heat waves blanket much of the nation. The combination of high temperatures and low humidity is expected to increase wildfire risk in the Pacific Northwest for the next several days. The Washington Post notes: "Climate change is intensifying the frequency and intensity of extreme heat as increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning warm the atmosphere." Read more here.

Drought is shrinking rivers and lakes, which could slow barge traffic and make it harder for farmers to ship crops. Read more here.

Farmworkers are some of the most vulnerable to heatwave deaths; employers and governments must do more to protect them, writes a columnist. Read more here.

The Dixie Fire is now the largest single fire in California history, though it is still only half the size of the August Complex, a 2020 conflagration that spanned seven counties. Dixie is only 30 percent contained and covers 790 square miles, according to Cal Fire. Meanwhile, the uncontrolled Richard Spring Fire in Montana has grown to more than 230 square miles. Read more here.

Rural Dixie Fire survivors share stories of loss and uncertainty. Read more here.