19 Ways to Understand This Heat

Below is a list of ideas, arguments, and practical tips from Atlantic stories to help you navigate this heat.

1. Hydrate smarter. Here are some dos and don’ts.

2. There’s no single too-hot-to-be-outside temperature. Trying to set one might mislead more than it would help.

3. The denser the city, the less greenery? Not necessarily.

4. Look into a white roof.

5. What if we called it heat season, not just summer?

6. Beware the “wet bulb”.

7. The heat gap between rich and poor might be the most daunting issue of this century.

8. Other countries have had more effective sunscreens for years.

9. When is a heat wave “unusual”? The climate is changing too rapidly for a baseline measure.

10. Fahrenheit might just beat Celsius when describing extreme heat.

11. What’s made the southwestern U.S. livable so far? Precious refuges: air-conditioned buildings, public pools, and more.

12. Smart thermostats may not actually reduce energy usage. That doesn’t mean they’re useless.

13. Don’t discount hyperlocal efforts. A group in Portland, Oregon, for instance, replaces unused pavement with green space.

14. Climate change has clearly supercharged wildfires.

15. But the link between global warming and hurricanes is pretty complicated.

16. There are serious consequences to a skipped spring.

17. Allergy season is getting longer; allergy sufferers, more numerous.

18. “Chief heat officers” are a thing now.

19. “The challenge of adapting is not unlike the challenge of fighting the human urge to succumb to nostalgia.”