Summer Is Hot, but This Is Abnormal

Summer is hot. This is among the most basic weather concepts that we learn as children and accept without question. Heat and even heat waves have always been a reliable hallmark of the season between the June solstice and the September equinox. And yet recent weather has far outstripped that norm. For most of last week, the daily high temperature in Phoenix reached or exceeded 115 degrees, breaking records even in that desert city. This weekend, a “heat dome” is expected to raise temperatures above 110 degrees in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho—places whose physical infrastructure is not well adapted to such heat.

Climate change is upending old rules and disrupting predictable weather, as a problem for which systematic, long-term preparation is warranted. To protect human life as temperatures soar, we need to conceive of what we might call as a phenomenon distinct from —a part of the year that people in much of the country have traditionally viewed with great fondness.