July 2026 was the hottest July on record in the contiguous United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). July’s temperature averaged 78.9 F in the lower 48 states, which was an eighth of a degree warmer than the previous record set in July 1936. The AP reports that unusually warm overnight temperatures contributed to the new record. Researchers from World Weather Attribution credit human-caused climate change as a contributing factor in recent wildfires in Canada and Europe.
Before Donald Trump took the oath of office for the second time, the general public could learn about climate change by visiting Climate.gov, NOAA’s official climate science website. Last year, however, the Trump administration fired all of the scientists at Climate.gov and took the website offline.
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
In June 2026, a team of scientists who had been fired launched a new website called Climate.us. The new site restores access to climate information that had been available at the dismantled government website. Volunteers re-posted climate reports and datasets to Climate.us, where the general public could view important climate information. A panel of volunteer scientists also fact-check content that is posted on the website, ensuring that the general public has access to reliable information.
Visitors to the new website will recognize features that are reminiscent of climate.gov. The climate dashboard, for example, features the same graphs that had existed on the government website. Climate.us also offers news and research highlights, case studies, maps, and much more. According to the launch announcement from Climate.us, the public will once again have access to Climate.gov’s 15-year collection of reports, blogs, and other resources.
Rebecca Lindsey, former program director at climate.gov and managing director of the new website, stated in the announcement: “Trusted climate information should not disappear when politics change.” She added that “Climate.us is building an independent, durable platform so people can continue to find the data and information they need to understand and talk about climate, and to teach, report, plan, prepare, and make informed decisions.”
Climate.us has already received an award. On July 13th, the National Center for Science Education (NSCE) announced that Climate.us was one of the recipients of the 2026 Friend of the Planet award. In a press release, the NCSE praised Climate.us as a non-profit organization headed by Rebecca Lindsey that preserves and extends climate content censored from the federal government’s websites.”
The project was partially paid for through crowdsourcing. About 2500 small donors gave a total of about $250,000, about a third of the required funding. Lindsey told NPR in June that thanks to a grant from an anonymous donor, Climate.us now has enough funding to operate through at least February 2027.
