It seems like only yesterday that the western United States faced droughts and fires over the summer of 2020. Now, entering the coming summer, the western U.S. and other parts of the world are facing record-breaking temperatures for days on end. While weather is not the same as climate, patterns have emerged over the past decade with heatwaves, droughts and large forest fires that indicate a changing climate. This extreme weather has become the new normal in the western U.S.