The summer we love is slipping away

Grist staff across the Southwest and Northeast describe a summer season that no longer matches memory: Arizona's monsoons have grown erratic, with Tucson's annual precipitation down nearly three inches since 1970, while El Paso logged 45 days at or above 100 degrees this year alone. NOAA recorded this past July as the hottest month ever measured for the contiguous U.S.

Writers describe rituals unraveling around the edges, missed monsoon downpours, air quality fouled by refinery pollution during a family visit, the vague sense that fireflies and cool mountain evenings can no longer be counted on. The piece is less data than mood, stitched from staff recollections rather than new findings.

The throughline, where there is one, is that annual hot-season temperatures in parts of the U.S. have risen 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit over fifty years, reshaping the small traditions that used to mark the season without anyone voting on it.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.