Currently in Miami — August 24, 2023: Hot. Just not insanely hot.

The weather, currently.

High levels of moisture will promote showers and thunderstorms over South Florida on Thursday, which will progress from northeast to southwest in the afternoon. The highest chances of rain will remain over the interior where the east- and west-coast sea breezes will collide and force air upwards to form additional rain clouds. Temperatures will stay in the low 90s across the east coast—“comfortable” compared to what we have grown accustomed to throughout this summer. Similar weather is expected through the weekend.

El tiempo, actualmente.

Altos niveles de humedad alimentarán aguaceros y tormentas eléctricas sobre el sur de Florida el jueves, las cuales se moverán de noreste a suroeste por la tarde. Las mayores posibilidades de lluvia permanecerán en el interior, donde las brisas marinas de las costas este y oeste chocarán y forzarán el aire hacia arriba para formar aguaceros adicionales. Las temperaturas se mantendrán en el rango bajo de los 90 grados en Miami y Ft Lauderdale: “cómodas” en comparación con lo que nos hemos acostumbrado durante este verano. Se espera tiempo similar durante el fin de semana.

—John Morales

What you need to know, currently.

It’s my excruciating duty to report that climate denial is alive and well in the year 2023.

With less than 15 months until Election Day, in the middle of what’s likely to be Earth’s hottest year since human civilization began, Republican presidential candidates gathered on a 100°F day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to talk about who would be the best person to beat Joe Biden — the self-proclaimed climate president.

It didn’t go well.

Moderators wasted no time in inviting a Gen-Z audience member to ask a climate question at the very beginning of the debate: “Polls consistently show that young people’s number one issue is climate change. How will you, as president, calm their fears that the Republican Party doesn’t care about climate change?”

The responses were agonizing. Trying to one-up his fellow challengers, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy went full climate hoaxer. Chris Christie insulted him for being a person of color. And no one raised their hand when the moderator asked who believed that human activities are causing climate change. (Spoiler: They are.)

That a major national political party anywhere in the world is considering nominating a full-throated climate denier should be a scandal. That it’s in the country most responsible for climate change is an outrage.

—Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

The fires in Maui have struck at the heart of Hawaiian heritage, and if you’d like to support survivors, here are good places to start:

The fires burned through the capital town of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the ancestral and present home to native Hawaiians on their original unceded lands. One of the buildings destroyed was the Na ‘Aikane o Maui cultural center, a gathering place for the Hawaiian community to organize and celebrate.

If you’d like to help the community rebuild and restore the cultural center, a fund has been established that is accepting donations — specify “donation for Na ‘Aikane” on this Venmo link.