The climate crisis is happening now

At this moment, life-threatening floods are affecting a large area of the Northeast. The floods are the result of a slow-moving storm that spent more than a day crossing New York and Connecticut, and is now moving into New England. At least one person has died in New York's Hudson Valley, thousands of homes are underwater, and major highways have suffered extensive damage.

The storm has also generated a major disruption of travel, both by air and rail. Most flights into the hub airport at Newark, New Jersey, were canceled on Sunday, along with many flights in or out of New York and Boston, resulting in a cascade effect of canceled flights and stranded travelers across the nation. Total rainfall is expected to match—and in some areas, exceed—the flooding that resulted when Tropical Storm Irene crashed into the Northeast in 2011.

But even as these storms are washing away roads and ruining homes in New England, a fresh heat wave is boiling into the country from the Southwest, one that is expected to blanket the United States in dangerously hot weather over the next two weeks. Meanwhile, those swimming off the Florida coast may soon not have to worry about sharks because the water is becoming too hot for sharks. Or other fish. Or coral. Or just about anything else.