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This story is from Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action. Sign up for Floodlight’s newsletter here. 

In south-central Wisconsin, near-record warmth in January and two record-breaking summer heat waves have cross-country skiers nervous they won’t be getting much snow this winter — again. 

And it’s not just skiers in Wisconsin who are worried. New research shows heat waves are prompting a growing number of Americans to make the connection between hotter weather and climate change. 

Ski seasons in the United States have shrunk by an average of 5.5 to 7.1 days between 2000 and 2019 compared to the 1960s and ’70s, according to a 2024 study by researchers from Canada and Austria. And in the coming 25 years, ski seasons could be even shorter — by between two weeks and three months — depending on how much the world reduces its greenhouse gas emissions, the researchers said.

Tamara Bryant, executive director of a cross-country ski club in Madison, Wisconsin, has seen this dynamic firsthand — both in her professional and personal lives.

“I remember the winters where my son could build snow forts in the front yard, year after year, and we’re just not getting the same (amount of snow),” she said. “Having a white Christmas is not something we can totally rely on.”

Madison’s chain of lakes also aren’t freezing like they used to, creating hazards for people who fish on the ice. 

Hilary Dugan, associate professor in the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says back in the 1800s, lakes would remain frozen approximately 130 days a year, but now, on average, it’s maybe 75 days a year.

“That’s something that people around here notice because winter is a big part of life,” Dugan said. “Traditionally, winter would start in December (and) it would end probably like April. That meant that you could consistently go out and ice fish, cross-country ski, you know, winter recreation.

“We’re talking months of change — not just a couple of days.”

Heat curbs desert hiking 

More than 1,700 miles away in Phoenix, dangerous heat has prompted officials to close the city’s extensive system of mountain trails. But that hasn’t stopped some from hiking in 100-degree-plus weather, leading to emergency rescues and the death of a 10-year-old last year. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found 2024 was the hottest year in its 130-year climate record. NOAA reported the average annual temperature across the contiguous United States in 2024 was 55.5 degrees — or 3.5 degrees above the 20th-century average — heat that it said fueled a near-record number of tornadoes. 

Hotter summers and warmer winters are not only disrupting outdoor activities. The record-breaking heat has also been driving national concern about climate change — more so even than dramatic events such as wildfires and hurricanes, according to new research. 

Yale’s latest Climate Opinion Maps found that 65% of U.S. adults somewhat or strongly agree that global warming is affecting weather patterns, while 72% of adults nationally think global warming is real. 

Its recent study showed that people’s interest in learning more about climate change consistently spikes during weather events like heat waves. And the public’s interest in climate change increases in specific areas experiencing extreme weather events, researchers found. 

“Certain weather events — like heat waves — seem to produce consistent jumps in climate change interest across all regions simultaneously,” the researchers wrote, “while others — like wildfires — show more geographic variation.”

The study involved research through Yale’s partnership with Google. The team analyzed online search trends across the country, finding that searches on climate change followed “consistent and predictable patterns.”  

Heat waves in 2023 sparked consistent interest in climate change, the study found, while Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 garnered an increase in searches only in the places affected by those storms. Similarly, interest in climate change increased during bouts of wildfires in the United States and Canada, but only in the areas most directly affected by the smoke, the study found.

The authors suggest the findings can be used by officials to help people prepare for extreme weather. And, the authors note, “this timing could help the public better understand the need to transition to renewable energy sources, reduce fossil fuels, update risk assessments, increase planning, and strengthen building codes.”

Heat not just inconvenient — it’s deadly

Climate Central’s analysis of heat streaks between 1970 and 2024 found that their frequency has at least doubled in nearly 200 cities across the Southwest, Northeast, Ohio River Valley and southeastern parts of the country — and those heat waves were attributed to greenhouse gas emissions. 

The data, released in July by the nonprofit group of scientists and climate researchers, also found heat waves are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. In 2023, the group reported that 2,325 people in the United States died from extreme heat — a record high. 

This heat, Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Rob McDade said, “It’s very dangerous.” In July 2024, a 10-year-old boy died from heat-related injuries while hiking South Mountain Park and Preserve with his family. 

In 2021, Phoenix adopted a safety program to restrict access on parts of the city’s 200-plus miles of trails during extreme heat — especially on rugged stretches where it’s more difficult for the fire department to rescue hikers.

“We have more people hiking than ever, and we are seeing rescues that have to happen that definitely are related to the heat,” said Jarod Rogers, deputy director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. 

Last year, between May 1 and Oct. 13, the city had 45 days of trail closures due to extreme heat. Since adopting the safety program, there have been fewer rescues — from 57 in 2021 down to 35 in 2024. 

“The proof is in the pudding,” McDade said. “Setting up these restrictions is dramatically cutting back those extreme (heat) day mountain rescues.”

Warm weather hits winter sports 

Rising temperatures are causing a different kind of risk in northern regions. Last winter, Dugan said she repeatedly heard about people being rescued after falling through melting lake ice.

“It felt higher than normal,” she said. “People are willing to go out on the thinnest ice to go get some fish. It’s definitely a passion for people here.”

Skiers are also feeling the burn from a warmer climate. Bryant, executive director for the MadNorSki Club (Madison Nordic Ski), said there has been little snow in recent years, shortening the cross-country skiing season. 

Annual snowfall in Madison has decreased over the past three winters from 70 accumulated inches in 2022 to 43 inches in 2023 and 22 inches in 2024. 

Bryant said popular ski races have had to cancel because of the lack of snowfall. Some event organizers have resorted to using artificially made snow. 

In 2017, organizers of the American Birkebeiner race (“Birkie”), which draws more than 10,000 nordic skiers to northern Wisconsin each year, canceled its cross-country ski races due to lack of snow.

In 2024, another low-snow year, Birkie organizers used snowmaking machines to create a 10-kilometer ski loop instead of the normally linear 50- or 53-kilometer course.

“In the photos, you would see this little white ribbon of snow on the trail, and it was brown everywhere else,” Bryant said, calling the recent lack of snow in Wisconsin “freaky.”

Birkie spokesman Shawn Connelly said the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation has kept its ski events running thanks to donor funding to purchase the snow-making equipment. “As long as we have the cold, we’ll have the snow,” Connelly vowed, “and we’ll continue to host North America’s largest annual cross-country ski race.” 

Trump seeks to halt U.S. climate push 

While the Yale study shows Americans are increasingly concerned about climate change, President Donald Trump’s administration is moving in the opposite direction. 

In July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which scientifically characterized planet-warming greenhouse gases as a danger to human health and the environment. The ruling was used as the foundation for the federal government’s regulation of emissions from vehicles and power plants for the last 16 years. 

The proposal comes after the Trump administration gutted many of the initiatives of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that aimed to reduce the country’s climate impact over the next two decades. 

Environmental advocates have accused the Trump administration of “burying its head in sand” when it comes to the climate crisis.

“Americans are already suffering from stronger hurricanes, more severe heat waves and floods, and more frequent fires,” Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a prepared statement. “(Americans) are watching these climate disasters get worse (and) the danger to their lives and health intensify.” 

Floodlight is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action.

From ski trails in Wisconsin to hiking paths in Phoenix, extreme heat is reshaping recreation — and our attitudes is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Incarcerated people exercise in the maximum security yard of the Lansing Correctional Facility in April 2023 in Lansing, Kan. This year, several states have taken steps to install air conditioning and expand cooling measures to address sweltering heat inside prisons, but many across the country remain years away from significant upgrades. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Summer heat is bearing down on U.S. prisons, where temperatures in uncooled cells can climb well into the triple digits.

Facing growing pressure from advocacy groups, lawsuits and climate projections that show hotter days ahead, some state prison systems are moving to install air conditioning and expand cooling measures — though many facilities remain years away from significant upgrades.

But in other states, such efforts have stalled or failed. That may lead to more lawsuits in the future, experts say, even as judges may raise the bar for such cases.

An emphasis on being “tough on crime” and prioritizing other public safety measures may have contributed to less attention on prison conditions in some states. In others, slowing revenue growth and pressure to rein in corrections spending could be making new investments a harder sell.

At least two states this year, Virginia and Texas, considered legislation addressing excessive heat in prisons but neither measure became law. The Texas bill would have required the state Department of Criminal Justice to purchase and install climate control systems in all of its facilities by the end of 2032. About two-thirds of the state’s correctional facilities have only partial or no air conditioning.

The measure passed the House but did not advance in the Senate before the legislature adjourned in June.

In Virginia, lawmakers approved a bill that would have required the state corrections department to install heat and air conditioning in its prisons and to ensure cell temperatures not exceed 80 degrees. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed it, citing the cost of installation and operational burdens. Youngkin also wrote that existing state corrections data “does not substantiate the claims of extreme temperatures or health risks.”

But in Delaware, the fiscal year 2026 capital budget approved last month includes $2 million in funding to install air conditioning at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center.

These changes mark the latest actions in a long-running debate over how correctional systems respond to rising summer temperatures — an issue that affects both incarcerated people and staff. Some of the policy debates and facility updates this year follow years of advocacy and litigation over the health, safety and operational challenges posed by heat in correctional settings.

The problem of excessive heat in prisons has persisted for decades and has unfolded alongside other challenges, including chronic understaffing and overcrowding. In some cases, these problems have led to extended facility lockdowns, even during the summer months.

Stifling prison heat used to be just a Southern problem. Not anymore.

“There are people working in prisons and they have the right to work in climates that are comfortable,” said Nancy La Vigne, a criminal justice researcher and dean of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University. “When they’re not, there’s retention issues, and it’s hard to replace staff. And when you don’t replace staff, then you have challenges in maintaining the safety and security of the facility.”

In New York, for example, correctional officers staged a three-week strike earlier this year and many didn’t return to work. Some facilities now are operating with 30%-60% fewer guards than needed, resulting in some incarcerated people getting only an hour or two outside of their cells each day.

A 2023 study published in the peer-reviewed PLOS One journal found that mortality in state and private prisons rose during periods of extreme heat, with deaths increasing 3.5% on extreme heat days and up to 7.4% during three-day heat waves. Between 2001 and 2019, nearly 13,000 people died in prison during the summer months, almost half of them in the South, though the study did not determine how many of those deaths were directly attributable to heat.

Climate change is fueling longer, more intense periods of extreme heat. Exposure to extreme heat can worsen conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and asthma, and has also been linked to worsening mental health and higher suicide rates among incarcerated people.

“Average temperatures are rising, and you’re going to have more and more states around the country where incarcerated people are held in conditions that are not livable because they’re too hot,” said Sharon Dolovich, a law professor and director of the Prison Law and Policy Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Some upgrades

At least 44 states lack universal air conditioning within their prison facilities, even in regions known for sweltering summer temperatures, according to a 2022 USA Today analysis. A recent Reuters investigation also found that nearly half of state prisons across 29 states have partial or no air conditioning in housing units.

But some states are investing millions to update their prison facilities.

In North Carolina, corrections officials are working toward their goal of installing air conditioning in all 54 state prisons by 2026. To date, 33 facilities are fully air-conditioned, 17 are partially air-conditioned, and four have no air conditioning, according to its dashboard.

In California, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which operates 31 adult prisons, has spent $246 million in the past five years on cooling improvements at five prisons, according to a department spokesperson.

Lawmakers this year also approved funding for the Air Cooling Pilot Program at three facilities, with $17.6 million allocated for fiscal years 2025-26 and $20 million for fiscal years 2026-27. It will evaluate the effectiveness of two alternatives prior to a statewide plan to address high indoor temperatures across the California prison system.

Public pushes DOC to apply law, reduce the number of people returned to Wisconsin prisons

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as of Aug. 1, is building 12,827 “cool beds,” or prison cells in air-conditioned units, and is in the process of procuring an additional 7,162, according to its dashboard.

Texas is one of the states most closely associated with heat-related deaths in prison. A 2022 study estimated that, on average, 14 deaths per year in Texas prisons are associated with heat. And a Texas Tribune analysis found that at least 41 incarcerated people died during a record-breaking heat wave in 2023.

In March, a federal judge ruled the extreme heat in Texas prisons is “plainly unconstitutional,” but declined to order immediate air conditioning, saying the work could not be completed within the court order’s 90-day window and temporary systems might delay a permanent fix.

‘More miserable’

Sweltering summer heat can turn prisons into pressure cookers. People inside already may have health conditions, limited access to cooling, or take medications that make it harder for their bodies to handle the heat. And research suggests that high temperatures can heighten irritability and aggression, sometimes fueling more conflicts between incarcerated people or with staff.

“It makes you more miserable. … If you to the point of even thinking about suicide, that’s just going to add to it,” said Ronald McKeithen, who spent 37 years incarcerated in Alabama prisons and is now the director of second chances at the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. McKeithen recalls feeling “on edge” due to tension among other incarcerated people on hot days.

At the Oshkosh Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, Devin Skrzypchak said the heat worsens his bladder condition, and he often can’t get the incontinence briefs he needs. The heat forces him to drink more water, and on days when ice isn’t available, he’s left drenched in sweat.

“At times, it’s a living hell. … It can be very excruciating,” Skrzypchak wrote in a message to Stateline through the facility’s messaging platform.

D’Angelo Lee Komanekin — who has spent about 25 years in and out of different Wisconsin corrections facilities — said prison architecture plays a major role in why temperatures inside climb so high.

“The planet is getting hotter and hotter,” said Komanekin, who relies on a small plastic fan to stay cool. Komanekin also is incarcerated at the Oshkosh Correctional Institution. “They’re doing nothing about the architecture. Some institutions’ windows open, some don’t, but most of the doors have steel doors with trap doors.”

Older prison designs that rely heavily on steel and concrete building materials often trap heat, making it difficult to keep temperatures down in the summer. Aging facilities also are less likely to be equipped for the installation of central air conditioning.

Some state prison systems, including Alabama’s and Wisconsin’s, are adding air-conditioning or air-tempering systems to new prison construction and major renovation projects.

Future legal battles

Legal experts say the issue of excessive heat in prisons is likely to become more pressing as climate change drives longer and hotter summers.

Extreme heat in correctional facilities has already been the subject of litigation in dozens of states, with plaintiffs arguing that high temperatures constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Court rulings in these cases have varied, but some experts say even more lawsuits are likely if facilities do not adapt.

“The conditions are going to worsen. [Incarcerated people are] going to be looking for every possible avenue for assistance they can,” Dolovich, the UCLA law professor, told Stateline.

One of the latest cases comes from Missouri, where the nonprofit law firm MacArthur Justice Center filed a class-action lawsuit in May on behalf of six incarcerated people at Algoa Correctional Center.

The lawsuit alleges that the conditions violate their constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment. It seeks to require the Missouri Department of Corrections to work with experts to develop a heat mitigation plan that keeps housing unit temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees. If the department cannot meet that standard, the plaintiffs are asking for the release of three of the incarcerated people who have less than a year remaining on their sentences.

Lawsuits such as the Missouri case often focus on claims that extreme heat worsens existing medical problems. To proceed, they must meet two legal requirements: proving the heat poses a serious health or safety risk, and showing prison officials knew about the danger but failed to address it, according to Dolovich, whose work has focused on the Eighth Amendment and prison conditions.

Courts may also raise the bar for proving such claims if judges echo decisions in cases with similar Eight Amendment arguments related to the death penalty and homelessness, Dolovich said. Judges have shifted, she said, toward a “superadding terror, pain and disgrace” standard under the Eighth Amendment — a higher threshold requiring proof that conditions were created with the intent to cause unnecessary suffering.

Dolovich added that some recent court decisions have provided only narrow remedies, such as ordering ice and fans instead of installing air conditioning.

“Prison officials have a moral and a constitutional responsibility to respond to changing conditions. In this case, it means air conditioning. … Anything less than that, to me, is indefensible.” she said.

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

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Farm Foundation’s Meet Your Farmer podcast featured Steve Kaufman in season 1, episode 3.

Steve is a fifth-generation farmer. He returned to his family’s Idaho farm full time in 2014 when his uncles and father were ready to retire. He and his two brothers farm 14,000 dryland crop acres, growing primarily winter wheat, spring wheat, peas, garbanzo beans, and canola. Prior to that, he worked at Northwest Farm Credit Services while also farming part time. Steve is an alum of Farm Foundation’s Young Farmer Accelerator Program.

In this episode, Steve talks about how gratifying it is to produce enough grain for 30 million loaves of bread on his farm, the hard work of trying to balance life with young kids and farm life, and what the process was like to switch over to no-till.

Listen to the episode.

Music: “Country Roads” by Sergii Pavkin from Pixabay

Reach us at communication@farmfoundation.org.

The post Farm Foundation’s Meet Your Farmer Podcast with Steve Kaufman appeared first on Farm Foundation.