A summer solstice like no other

Today’s the summer solstice, and most of the eastern US is reeling from a major early-season heatwave.

In Caribou, Maine — one of the northern-most cities in the United States — the heat index reached a sweltering 103°F (39.4°C) on Wednesday, the highest ever recorded there in nearly 100 years of records.

In Maine’s largest city, Portland, temperatures during the current heatwave are more than 14 degrees F warmer than normal for late June. According to Climate Central, a heatwave of this magnitude is more than three times more likely to happen with climate change caused by the addition of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning.

If you’re in Maine, there are cooling centers open and there’s a wealth of organizations working for environmental justice and equity across the state and across New England that are worthy of your support.

Of course, it’s not just Maine where the climate emergency is arriving in full force this summer. The past 12 months have been the hottest 12 months in human history. This morning, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northern Mexico bringing three months worth of rainfall in just a day or two after eight years of local drought. And in Mecca, Saudi Arabia there have been more than 1,000 deaths so far from heat exhaustion during the annual hajj pilgrimage as temperatures soared to 125°F (51.8°C).

A Media Matters analysis found that last year — the hottest calendar year on record — network coverage of climate actually declined in the US. What’s worse, just 12% of reports about climate change mentioned fossil fuels as the driving cause. The media still reported on extreme weather, but stopped short of making the climate connection.

Independent climate journalism like Currently is needed more than ever. And this year, with all of these weather warnings already underway, we’ll unfortunately have plenty of opportunities to do better.

Right now, Currently is publishing our free daily weather newsletters in New York City, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, and Minneapolis/Saint Paul.

It’s our pleasure to provide these climate-forward updates so folks in these communities can stay informed and stay safe — especially as we get into the heat of the summer and hurricane season.

We want to do this in as many cities as possible, around the world — but we can’t do that without your help. Our writers are paid entirely from our readers’ membership dues, and we can launch in new cities only once we have a critical mass there (at least 20 paid members per city OR one sponsor).

In short, we need your help to keep doing what we’re doing, and to reach even more people as this year’s weather continues to intensify.

We are in this together, and since the corporate media isn’t doing it — it’s up to us to tell the climate stories and highlight the helpers working to build a system that works for everyone.

May you have good weather,

Eric

P.S. We’re still looking for newsletter writers in Washington, D.C., Austin, TX, and Sydney, Australia — if you’re a weather nerd living in one of those places and love talking about it (or you know someone in those cities who is), you’d be a perfect fit! Email me: [email protected] to apply!