Nature Quest: Are Summers Getting Hotter?

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

Much of the country is deep in the middle of a heat wave right now. And every summer, Duane Stilwell's town in Arizona seems to get hotter. It has him worried — and he's not the only one. Since 1980, the average number of heat waves in the U.S has doubled and the average length of a heat wave season has increased from 40 days to 70. Future summers, experts say, will be even hotter. But why exactly is that happening, and what can people do to protect themselves from the heat?

This episode is part of Nature Quest, a monthly segment that answers listeners' questions about their local environment. If you have a question, send a voice memo to [email protected] that includes it, your name and where you live. We might make it into our next Nature Quest episode!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from Rethinking, a podcast from TED.
0:03.5	On Rethinking, organizational psychologist Adam Grant talks to today's greatest minds
0:08.5	about the ideas you might take for granted and what assumptions you should reconsider.
0:13.2	Find Rethinking wherever you listen.
0:16.3	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:24.2	Hey, every day. You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey everyone, Emily Kwong here with producer Hannah Chin,
0:27.5	who is bringing us this month's listener question for NatureQuest.
0:31.4	My favorite series ever.
0:33.2	Okay, Hannah, who's the question coming from?
0:35.5	This question comes from Dwayne Stillwell.
0:37.2	He's 68, and he lives a lot of different lives in a lot of different places.
0:41.9	I lived in Cleveland, in Chicago, New York City.
0:45.6	Dwayne grew up working summers as a delivery boy in the lush green of Mexico City.
0:50.3	He taught chemistry in the dry heat of California, and he even worked as a railway switchment, tamping down snow and below freezing temperatures in the Midwest.
0:58.6	Basically, he is no stranger to extreme weather.
1:01.8	And when he retired and moved to the American Southwest five years ago, he kind of thought he was there to stay.
1:07.6	That Guadalupe, Arizona, just outside of Phoenix, was his forever home.
1:12.2	I pretty much thought this was going to be the last place I'd have to move, and I'm tired of
1:19.6	moving, you know?
1:21.0	Yeah, I feel that. He's lived a lot of places he's ready to settle.
1:24.8	But now he's not so sure.
1:27.2	Because Emily, over the past four years, the summers
	...

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