Air conditioning didn’t even cross Judy Hopkins’ mind when she built her Grover, Utah, house in 2008. Extreme heat isn’t supposed to be a problem at more than 7,000 feet above sea level.
But this summer in her tiny corner of Wayne County has been different.
“It was the talk of the county,” Hopkins said. “You went to the post office, or you went to the grocery store — everybody was talking about the smoke and the heat.”
Most homes in Grover don’t have AC, she said. Like in other high-altitude communities, residents have typically gotten through summers with running fans and open windows at night to let in the cool air. But as climate change cranks up temperatures across the West, even Utah’s idyllic mountain communities can’t escape the heat.
Hopkins had already noticed Grover’s warmer summers in recent years. Then a few weeks ago, smoke from the massive Widemouth 2 fire cloaked town during a week-long heat wave.
“It felt like you were suffocating,” the 85-year-old said. “It was so hot, you were taking off your clothes, as much as was appropriate, and you were using wet washcloths and that kind of thing to cool yourself off.”
This part of Utah is experiencing its hottest summer on record.
The weather station at nearby Capitol Reef National Park registered an average temperature of 79.5 degrees for June-August — more than a full degree warmer than the previous record. The average in the community of Loa just northwest of Grover has been 68.5 degrees this summer, the warmest in the town’s records dating back to 1893.
On top of that, Utah wildfires have burned more acreage in 2026 than the past five years combined.
Hopkins is not ready to make the leap to AC yet, mostly because of cost concerns. But others have.
Retired librarian Chip Ward lives in nearby Torrey, population 323. Most homes haven’t historically had AC, he said, because it was considered an unnecessary luxury at over 6,800 feet of elevation. In recent years, however, more of his neighbors are rethinking that simply because it’s hard to cool a house at night with smoke in the air.
“There's always a forest fire somewhere, and if the wind shifts, it's in your face,” Ward said. “So, that is probably dealing with the effects of global warming in a secondary way. This is now smoke season.”
Ward added a minisplit-style cooling and heating unit to his house around three years ago. Because ductwork wasn’t required, it was easier to install than central air, and he said it cost less than the last furnace he bought.
These glimpses into Wayne County’s air conditioning transition illustrate how communities everywhere are adapting to climate change, which scientists agree is driven by fossil fuel emissions.
“It is important to acknowledge that we're living in a different world,” said Jen Brady, senior data analyst with research organization Climate Central.
The shift looks different in different regions, she said. Places like Grover and Torrey may be adding AC for the first time. In other cities, it might mean people run their cooling system at night when they used to leave it off, or the AC turns on earlier in the spring and runs later into the fall.
Demand for air conditioning in Salt Lake City jumped 76% from 1970 to 2025 as temperatures rose. Climate Central calculated that increase based on federal cooling degree days data, which measures the difference between a day’s outdoor temperature and a typical indoor temperature of 65 degrees.
Because of that increase, more than one-fifth of the average Utahn’s electric bill goes to cooling, according to Climate Central analysis of 2020 federal data.
“Power bills maybe weren't dependent on air conditioning and cooling before,” Brady said, “but now they are.”
America’s thirst for electricity shows no signs of slowing. The federal National Climate Assessment released in 2023 estimated that Utah’s demand for power would increase by more than 50% from 2020 to 2050.
Extreme heat kills more Americans each year than all other extreme weather events combined, so air conditioning can be a lifesaver as summers warm.
Still, there are trade-offs. Some research suggests that rising global AC demand could exacerbate climate change in the coming decades because the required electricity will increase emissions — although a rapid shift to cleaner renewable energy could help. Another study says air conditioners should be considered a last resort, and that other cooling options, such as reflective building materials, green roofs and smart ventilation, could significantly reduce demand.
In Grover, air conditioning is unlikely to become the norm anytime soon. Hopkins said the price tag for an AC retrofit would be cost-prohibitive for her and most of her neighbors.
But summers are getting scarier. This is the second straight year Grover residents have dealt with wildfire smoke that coincided with peak summer heat, she said. Last year, one of the fires even cut the town off from electricity for days.
Unlike urban areas with cooling centers and shopping malls, small towns don’t usually offer those kinds of options for relief.
“There was no place to go,” Hopkins said. “We all understand it's part of living in this rural environment, and most of us are willing to put up with a week or so of that. If it went on longer than that, I don't know what we would do.”
