Why it matters: The country’s fastest-growing region is enduring some of the highest temperatures in the U.S., threatening the health of some of America’s most vulnerable people and billions in economic activity.
What’s happening: America’s population — attracted by lower taxes, bigger homes and lower cost of living for retirees — is moving to more vulnerable locations, where the effects of climate change present huge risks.
** Phoenix set numerous all-time heat records in July… * Over the past decade, the Sunbelt accounted for 75% of U.S. population growth. The region is now home to about 50% of the nation’s population… Between the lines: The issue isn’t just about how hot it is now — but about how much hotter it’s going to get and for how long each year, said Parag Khanna, chief executive of Climate Alpha, a startup that uses AI to measure climate resilience.*
Loads of people from NY, NJ and Connecticut have looked to retire south for the last 60 years or so or snowbird it for even longer. So I’m in Coastal Central Jersey (but my not lying low). In the last 3 years we’ve had 2 snowstorms last year no accumulation. I guess I’m in the right spot. We still rarely hit 90°, maybe 10 times in a hot summer. I’m thinking Delaware makes more sense now than the South.
I’ll probably be sticking to my home on the Lake Michigan shore until they carry me out. Tons of fresh water, not much lake effect snow on this side of the lake, cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter due to the microclimate along the shore. Besides, all my stuff is here.
I could be so racked with arthritis that I couldn’t move and I still wouldn’t move to one of those maga-infested hellholes. Not to put too fine a point on things.
Yeah, it never made sense to me that the reports of heat and drought seemed to suggest we ought to feel sympathy for idiots who decided to live in a desert, or to save taxes.
Conversely I’ve never understood why the midwest is supposed to be so bad.
Ditto here. My in-laws live in (well, next to) Phoenix, and, while I don’t mind visiting, I just don’t get its appeal, climate-wise. They both lived their lives substantially in Buffalo, and my father-in-law likes it, and my mother-in-law just barely tolerates it. I had a friend who moved out there from here in Chicago a few years ago due to her husband’s job and she was miserable. I swear to you, every other day her Facebook posts were carping about the heat there. They eventually got divorced and she moved to Rochester, NY.
I know people like different things – I’m just surprised that many people like the desert climate. Meanwhile, I love seasons; I love winter; I love thunderstorms, etc. I don’t think Chicago winters are bad at all (and my Buffalo-born-and-raised wife chuckles at what we consider a lot of snow), so even fellow Chicagoans find me a bit loopy on the last part, but the past few years (especially last winter) have been quite mellow, much to my chagrin. The only thing I don’t like is the humid summers but, once again, it hasn’t been bad the last few years. I don’t even remember feeling remotely uncomfortable this year.
Are you on the western shore Qadgop? My wife and I are in the mountains of Colorado. But as we get older we are concerned about the tremendous amount of snow we get and also the sketchy emergency services.
But, one thing we will never have to worry about is it getting too hot.
Though this week has temps over 100 in mid-Oregon, historically a rain forest climate with temperate summers. It was one of the places you move to in order to escape the heat.
What Chefguy said. I used to think I would move to KY after I retired but hell no. KY gets blazing hot and humid summers and ice in the winter. Plus, you know, maga. I’ll stay in sensible Illinois where the governor recently signed a ban on book banning and the state Supreme Court said it’s not unconstitutional to ban assault firearms. And I like winter. And autumn. My sister recently moved to Gulf Shores AL where for the last 6 weeks it’s been 95 with 80% humidity and the ac never shuts off.
My move to SE Michigan 20 years ago is now in retrospect looking like a great move. Winters are mild compared to the rest of Michigan and the summers are warm, but not too hot the majority of the time. Moreover, we have loads of fresh water from the lakes up here, the Flint thing was just a fluke caused by human error because they should have known not to draw water from the river up there (a known EPA waste dump for 1980’s manufacturing and before).
I can foresee a time when people from the south move back up here into actual Detroit due to low very low housing cost and a good climate, it could literally rise from the ashes and shed its negative reputation.
Most people relocate to be closer to family or for jobs, not because of weather. What jobs that were left, many companies relocated to the southern parts of the US for cheaper labor, and people followed. This has happened over the past 30 years. It’s called the rust belt for a reason.
Not from my area. Mostly older folks, especially retirees move down to the Carolinas or Florida to get away from the winters, traffic and to get cheaper housing.
…median property tax bill is three and a half times higher than it is in Kentucky and summers are nearly as hot.
Here in central KY we’ve had a few 90+ days this summer, but highs have mostly been in the 80s with comfortable nights. However I sure wouldn’t encourage retirees to come here, nossir. There’s MAGA marching in your neighborhood all the time, tobacco growing in the fields and people firing off shootin’ irons nonstop. And they talk funny.
Nope, Arizona, Florida and Texas are where you want to be.
Yep, lifelong SE Michigan resident here. I think I will stick to my home area where it only gets above 90 degrees on a mere handful of Summer days, and we’re surrounded by 70% of the world’s supply of fresh water.
