Dispatch from a Heat Wave

Dear America,

You probably heard about that 116 degree all-time temperature record we recently set for the Pacific Northwest. Well, this is not the kind of exceptionalism celebrated by the famous “Keep Portland Weird” bumper sticker. This dramatic example of “weather weirding” is a frightening glimpse of our climate-changed future, in which this summer will be one of the coolest ones of the rest of our lives, and these extreme weather events get ever more extreme.