This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.

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.”

Read the full story at KUER.org.