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Snow storms in June

Nicole Fallert   Paste BN

Great Falls, Virginia, is scorching hot.

Great Falls, Montana, is frigid.

It's been an extreme week for weather across the U.S. As summer officially begins, many cities are facing rare ups and downs in local forecasts, from wildfires in California to snow on Pacific Northeast peaks to blazing sun on the East Coast. Paste BN is keeping up with the changes by the minute − and taking a step back to ask what all these weird weather moments really mean for our planet and its people.

👋 Nicole Fallert here and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Paste BN weather correspondent Doyle Rice about this year's unusual weather.

But first, don't miss these stories made possible by your Paste BN subscription:

Rain, heat ... and snow?

As a national weather reporter with over two decades of experience, Doyle Rice has pretty much seen it all. But lately, weather events have been unprecedented, he said. What we've seen: A hurricane season set to be the most active yet; Earth marking 12 straight months of record heat; dry conditions fueling wildfires across California and New Mexico, burning thousands of acres and threatening California's famous vineyards; and the year's first named tropical storm, which dropped just this week.

But as a veteran weather reporter, Rice said, he's used to seeing different weather at once: "We're a big country. That can mean snowstorms in June."

Extreme weather is becoming a year-round phenomenon, Rice said, rather than something that happens in isolated seasons: "And the breadth is pretty stunning at this point."

The expanse of extreme weather happening right now can feel overwhelming − almost debilitating (like should I be boarding a plane in extreme heat?!). But Rice says you can get information from local officials to know when extreme weather becomes dangerous. Listen to local authorities, he said, and don't take changes for granted.

"It's unusually early for a heat wave of this intensity" across America, he said, and cities have needed to amp up preparedness for public heat safety services more quickly to make up for increasing demand for relief. These programs, as extreme as prepping ice-filled body bags for cooling purposes, are especially essential for unhoused communities, the elderly and other vulnerable people.

"There's no sign of any cool summers coming to this country," Rice said. "This could easily be the norm in the future."

The swells in extremity are linked to climate change, he said.

"For example, hurricanes love warm water and feed off of warm water," Rice said. As the Atlantic waters where hurricanes form reach record heat levels, they spawn angrier hurricanes.

As a journalist tasked with covering these events, Rice is heading into a busy season. He's keeping his focus on the human impact of weather events this summer, he said. He tries not to get caught up in the numbers and instead shapes the story around how it affects people on the ground.

"From Texas to New England, we cover the country," Rice said. "If there's a storm, we're on top of it."

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Thank you

I'll be keeping Doyle's weather reports top of mind as we head into summer. Thank you for supporting our journalism with your subscription. Our work wouldn't be possible without you. 

Best wishes, 

Nicole Fallert

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