May every Republican in this country DIE in agonizing pain for what they have done to our world.

Ralphie gave data on Yellowstone, but didn't focus on what's important in climate – long-term trends. He wants people to just eyeball, since that's not effective. But let's zoom out to look at trends on Northern Hemisphere Land, since most people live there. Here are trends in the first and the second half (when CO2 emissions really took off) 1880-1949– warming 0.94°C (or 1.7°F) per century 1949-2018– warming 2.29°C (or 4.12°F) per century Here's the link, you might need to reset the trend, it should show the 1949-2018 but the tool is finicky. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/global/time-series/nhem/land/ytd/12/1880-2018?trend=true&trend_base=100&firsttrendyear=1949&lasttrendyear=2018 Back to Yellowstone – are multidecadal temperatures trending higher now? You bet. I used Ralphie's link and downloaded the data. It starts in 1895, so I took 30-year averages ending each year from 1924 to now. His link was to annual maximums. I looked at the annual averages and minimums, too. If climate is just wobbling up and down, running averages back then should be like those now, and the biggest 30-year averages should be kind of randomly spread across the range. The thirteen hottest 30-year maximums in Yellowstone are all since 2004. Only five of the top twenty are last century (periods ending 1959 thru 1963). The thirteen hottest 30 year averages are the most recent ones, too. All twenty warmest 30-year minimums are the most recent ones. Yellowstone's getting warmer.

Heartbreaking. The only way out of this nightmare is to elect folks who care, understand the crisis, and craft public policies that matter and are effective.

Another of these alarmistic articles. In the heading we are told that rapid change has ocurred. But immediately in the text speculations of what it will be like in a few decades prevails. This is simply not serious and very bad journalism! I strongly suspect that the changes haven't been greater than what we have seen in the past between warmer and dryer and cooler and wetter periods. I.e. normal variation.

Trump and the GOP will parcel it up and sell it to highest bidders. Coal Companies and touristy Hotels will dominate when GOP is done. Trump/Republicans only value what they can get money for; kiss our planet goodbye. Ray Sipe

The world population is now at 7.6 billion. It is growing at 80 million per year. No amount of fossil fuel reduction, recycling, or other personal conservation habits can make up for that. That new population will continue to need food, water. And the two fastest growing ethnic/religious groups continue to urge their members to reproduce. Walt Kelly's Pogo adopted the phrase, "We have met the enemy and he is us!" in 1970. Nobody was listening then, when the population was 3 billion. They are not listening now. Unless that growth is halted, the world is doomed. That will not happen. We have passed the pinnacle of man's existence. It is downhill, irrevocably, from here on. Wars will be fought over the scraps, tearing at the dead carcass of humankind. T.S.Eliot was prescient, writing in "The Hollow Men" in 1925: "This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper."

Ed Abbey said it best. "Nothing that is wild or beautiful or free will survive the coming tidal wave of humanity".

I was never a traveler, so only saw but one or two of these wonders, and very partially, first-hand. Now, too old and creaky to do these types of trips. But this article makes me sad for younger, fitter, faster generations -- and all they they will miss. I guess we'll always have Ken Burns' invaluable documentary series, thank goodness. How vital is was to get that filmed when he did.

Chief Seattle said once something like 'Man's life without the animals would be such a terribly sad life'. I couldn't agree more. Everywhere I travelled around the world, I saw huge patches of the Earth which had been gutted and turned into desolate no man's land. Without its original inhabitants, the animals that once lived there, I deeply felt the emptiness in the area, I felt that death and destruction of all natural habitats had brought a deep sense of sadness inside me. The pictures of the animals shown above are God's signature. He gave men and women dominion over His creation but what have they done to the earth? Fortunately, Yellowstone is still protected land and not opened for drilling and/or hunting, or is it really?

Could this be speculation? Could this be anecdotal evidence? Could this be a way to sell more papers? Do we whine about this or adapt has man has done over the ages? The planet goes through cycles. We are in a warm one. We might even like it. Who knows? I can vividly remember a Time Magazine cover in the 70's speculating on the coming Ice Age.

Just in case anyone would like to read even more alarming news about climate change https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/13/science/sperm-infertility-insects-heat.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront Will heat "fix" all life forms? Worried now?

I worry more about Yellowstone becoming unrecognizable after the supervolcano beneath it erupts.

I always felt the Antarctica was the most beautiful place on earth until I went to Yellowstone in Winter. In winter, this pristine national park is one of the greatest wonders that God created. To read that winters are going to be different would be one of the greats losses on our lifetimes. Your presentation is amazing - almost as beautiful as being there.

More misleading climate propaganda from the Times. Sure, if you look at the last 30 years, temps have risen since 1990. But take at this graph from the climate division in Wyoming that is part of yellowstone. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/divisional/time-series/4801/tmax/12/12/1895-2018?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1901&lastbaseyear=2000 Notice carefully folks, that before the uptick in temps there had been a steep decline in temps from the 1930's to the early 1980's. The temps now are no different than in 1930. And there has been a slight uptick in precipitation. Ditto the areas in Idaho and Montana that are part of Yellowstone. So, I don't think I'll set my hair on fire over this. It's very clear that climate in an area is variable over a period of time -- but the data DO NOT support the notion that we are seeing unprecedented warming. It's cyclical. Very convenient to talk about temps rising 2 degrees F since 1948, but that ignores the fact that the temps in 1934 were over 5 degrees F warmer than in 1948. So what happened in the 1930's when we had an unprecedented rise in temps from 1916 to 1934 of over 7 degrees F. Did Yellowstone blow up. Don't think so. This is shabby and doesn't present the full picture by any means.

As a former Yellowstone employee in the 1980s, when I've gone back in recent years I've noticed that some of the thermal features look different. Mammoth Hot Springs terraces look greyer and drier than previously, according to my recollection. Is that from less precipitation over the long term? Were any geothermal scientists interviewed?

this is my first time reading an interactive article like this, and I absolutely love it. Such an effective and awesome way to bring readers in, reiterate the content of the article, and have a deepening emotional effect of what climate change is doing to our beloved natural world.

Is it a bit ironic that Wyoming contains both Yellowstone National Park and the Powder River Basin, the largest coal production area in the United States? Having moved to Montana recently it was an "eye opener" to see the volume of coal that heads both East and West out of Wyoming. It's humbling to see the volume and terrifying to contemplate the consequences.

Thank you for this beautiful article. Weighing In No lion roars here no wild tree hugger though I do love trees. When today’s third petition asks me to save a national monument a public land, from exploitation a question unsettles my mind— Bears Ears, Escalante, Yellowstone these tiny stamps of land— Is there nothing we will protect, nothing we hold precious? Oh, how much nothing weighs.

Excellent read, but highly distressing.... My first visit to Yellowstone so impressed me in a way that is difficult to explain. I have never seen such spectacular land free of human influence (outside of the roads) with a highly functioning ecology. This article makes me sad to learn how we are impacting the ecology there through climate change and at an alarming rate.

May those great leaders who make the moonshot change needed be blessed with peace. Lets shift the love of our machines towards that of gods creation. Yes, count me in as a tree hugging, mother earth cuddling, rock licking cuckoo. Just another one of gods children.

Michael Tercek's line about his daughter and the ice age is what caught me. I remember taking a science class in school. The professor was a geologist and an astrophysicist. Her work primarily concerned designing and launching satellites to examine Mars. In this class though, she took the time to impress the immedicay of climate change upon the class. IPCC reports were mandatory reading. Tercek's comment stands out because he echo's exactly what this professor said years ago. She said Vermont will feel like North Carolina and North Carolina will feel like Florida. Not in some distant future. In your lifetime. We were presented with six months worth of scientific evidence backing her argument. That sort message tends to stick with you.

This shakes me to my core. My parents were from the Yellowstone country, Montana and Wyoming. As a child, we drove many summers from our home in southern California to Yellowstone. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of my experiences there. I am devastated to see this happening, as this pathetic President turns his back on global climate change and his Interior Secretary faces probable federal criminal charges.

The content of the article makes me heartsick. But I would like to say thank you for a such a beautiful layout and such well-balanced text, illustrations and graphics...fantastic.

Extinction is a result of lost habitat. Nothing says lost habitat like over population.

Yellowstone's near future is the Utah of today, with vulcanism. I guess the press is tired of doing Glacier stories.

"Major fossil fuel companies have known for decades that their products—oil, natural gas, and coal—cause global warming. Their own scientists told them so more than 30 years ago. In response, they decided to deceive shareholders, politicians, and the public—you!—about the facts and risks of global warming. They repeatedly fought efforts to move the country away from fossil fuels. They slowed progress on the most important challenge of our time. And some continue to spread disinformation and obstruct climate policies even today. All while being aware of the role their products play in climate impacts. These companies should immediately stop funding climate deception. They should bear their fair share of responsibility for the damage caused by their products".

Back in 1959 i visited Yellowstone in the middle of June, I remember big piles of snow here and there along side of the road, and i dressed in shorts and tank top, stand next a snow pile ready to throw a big snow ball. I wonder if that would be possible today.