Jeff, cherry grower. Yakima Valley, Washington. July 2021.
"The cherries cooked. They were on the tree and they cooked. I've lost crops to frost. I've lost crops to wind. I have never lost a crop to heat."
Associated Press, July 2021
Teresa, emergency nurse. Phoenix, Arizona. July 2023.
"They come in with second-degree burns on their palms, their knees, their stomachs. From falling on the sidewalk. It looks like they grabbed a hot pan off the stove."
Arizona Republic, July 2023
Tom, maple producer. Cabot, Vermont. February 2024.
"My father tapped in March. His father tapped in March. I was out here in January this year. The sap doesn't wait for you to be ready."
Vermont Public Radio, February 2024
Carlos, utility lineworker. Lake Charles, Louisiana. October 2023.
"Every storm is the worst storm now. I've been climbing poles eighteen years. The damage used to make sense. You could see where the wind came through. Now it's everything at once and nothing looks like what it should."
Associated Press, October 2023
Diane, school bus driver. Maricopa County, Arizona. October 2023.
"The kids get on the bus and their backpacks are hot to the touch. The metal on the seatbelt buckles burns them. In October. I've been driving this route eleven years."
12News (KPNX Phoenix), October 2023
Bobby, cattle rancher. San Angelo, Texas. September 2023.
"I'm selling cows I spent twenty years building up. There's no grass. There's no water. There's nothing to do but sell them and watch the trucks leave."
Associated Press, September 2023
Gary, corn and soybean farmer. Story County, Iowa. Spring 2024.
"The planting window used to be a window. Now it's a crack. You get two decent days and then it's underwater."
Iowa Public Radio, Spring 2024
Dave, fishing guide. Ennis, Montana. August 2023.
"Had to call every client on the books and tell them we can't go out. River's closed. Water's too warm, the trout can't take it. I've been guiding this stretch thirty years. Never made that call before."
Montana Free Press, August 2023
Sergio, Cal Fire firefighter. Butte County, California. August 2024.
"I have not personally seen a fire grow so fast in such a short amount of time."
PBS NewsHour, August 1, 2024
Jim, lobsterman. Stonington, Maine. 2023.
"We're hauling up black sea bass in the traps. Ten years ago you wouldn't find one north of the Cape."
Associated Press, 2023
Rick, crab fisherman. Newport, Oregon. January 2024.
"Season was supposed to open December first. They pushed it to January, then February. Water's too warm. The toxins won't clear. You just sit at the dock and wait for a phone call."
The Oregonian, January 2024
Ray, HVAC technician. Decatur, Georgia. April 2024.
"Used to be I'd fire up the systems in May, shut them down in October. Now I'm running calls in March and the compressors don't get a rest till Thanksgiving. The equipment wasn't built for this many hours."
Associated Press, April 2024
Marla, rancher. Western Colorado. 2013.
"I know what I— I know what looks right to me. It's not right. Nothing about this is right."
This American Life, Episode 495
Marcus, high school football coach. Katy, Texas. August 2023.
"We moved practice to five-thirty in the morning. By eight o'clock it's dangerous. These are sixteen-year-old kids."
Associated Press, August 2023
Linda, park ranger. Glacier National Park, Montana. Summer 2024.
"Visitors ask about the glaciers. I show them where they were. That's most of the job now. Showing people where things used to be."
Montana Public Radio, Summer 2024
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"Virtually impossible" without us: A World Weather Attribution flash analysis found that the March 2026 Southwest heat dome was roughly 800 times more likely because of human-caused warming, making it among the most statistically anomalous heat events ever recorded in the region in any month.
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The snowpack is gone: Cornell climate scientist Flavio Lehner warned that Western snowpack levels are already the lowest since 1981, and by April 1 water allocation planning "is going to look pretty bad in a lot of places in the West."
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Warming confirmed accelerating: A Potsdam Institute study published in Geophysical Research Letters found that after removing natural variability, global warming has been speeding up since roughly 2015, and the planet could exceed 1.5°C before 2030 at the current rate.
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Insurers as first witnesses: Former FEMA director Craig Fugate told reporters that "the clearest signal isn't the science debate — it's insurers walking away," as the average cost of homeowners insurance has nearly doubled since 2020 and roughly 14% of owner-occupied homes are now uninsured.