Over the winter, Utah’s snowpack topped out at a dismal, historic low. Then a heat wave zapped what little snow was left, prompting a statewide drought emergency. After that came dry thunderstorms, which sent wind-whipped fires racing across the state. The monsoon rain that followed pummeled areas that had recently burned.

Utah this year has come to exemplify the compounding nature of extreme weather in a warming climate. The disasters that hit one after another weren’t isolated events; rather, each was a consequence of the crisis that preceded it.

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