In September 2024 Hurricane Helene flooded the mountain town of Asheville, N.C., which had once been called a climate haven, a place less prone to the toll of climate change. In March 2025 fires coursed throughout the state. Fires also claimed Myrtle Beach, on the South Carolina coast. From sea to sky, the Carolinas have been grappling with disaster.

All the while, people make lists of places in the U.S. that are supposedly more resistant to climate change. They lie farther north, presumed to be better insulated from global warming, or near rivers or lakes that would ballast drought. Buffalo, N.Y., Ann Arbor, Mich., Burlington, Vt. Not to mention Asheville.

But what befell Asheville illustrates how no place in the U.S.—in the world, really—is safe from the ravages of the climate crisis. There are no climate havens. Places touted as less prone to heat, such as Asheville, are subject to floods and more intense snowfall. Those close to water face rising sea levels or floods. Population growth would strain water supplies, eventually spoiling these places as the rest of the country continues to endure more intense wildfires, more destructive hurricanes and tornadoes, prolonged droughts, and intensifying heat waves. There is nowhere to run to get away from climate change.