The livin' is no longer so easy: How carefree dreams of 'summertime' are fading in 2026's swelter

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to consider the death of the summertime state of mind. The season itself is in no danger; climate change, mainly caused by the burning of oil, gas and coal, is warming the weather year-round. Viewed this way, summer-like weather is ascendant. It's setting records across the globe — melting Arctic ice, driving droughts, i ntensifyingwildfires, spinning up storms and endangering millions of people who can't affordair conditioning, time off work or “coolcations.” The heat is so extreme in Asia that Japan has coined a new meteorological category for the danger: kokusho-bi — or “cruelly hot day.”What seems as dead as the grass in England this year is summertime ideal — lazy days, warm nights and escape, however temporary, from classes or parents or wor