President Biden declared a state of emergency in Vermont, where authorities cordoned off central areas of the capital Montpelier after two months of rain fell in less than 48 hours. Vermont's rivers are expected to crest about 20 feet above normal today – the state's worst flooding since 1927.
In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul said this week's storms dumped up to eight inches of rain, causing flash flooding in parts of the Hudson Valley and Finger Lakes regions. Hochul called it a once-in-a-thousand-year weather event caused by climate change.
Governor Kathy Hochul: “My friends, this is the new normal. And we in government, working with our partners on the ground, need to work with our communities to build resilience, to be prepared for the worst, because the worst keeps happening.”
In Arizona, extreme heat warnings remain in effect, with forecasters warning that Phoenix is poised to break its record for consecutive days of 110-plus degrees.
In Florida, forecasters predict heat indices in parts of the state will top 110 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43 degrees Celsius, by the end of the week. A marine heat wave has pushed ocean temperatures off the coast of Florida up to 96 degrees – more than five degrees above normal.
On Monday, the World Meteorological Organization reported that the first week of July was the hottest week ever recorded on Earth. We'll have more on the climate crisis after the headlines and talk to a meteorologist who quit his job after facing death threats in Iowa for speaking out about climate change.
