Vermont has long treated air conditioning as optional. A warming climate could be changing that.

Noah Witt of Burlington pours water over his head while cooling off at the Andy A_Dog Williams skatepark in Burlington on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerFor generations, air conditioning in Vermont has been treated less as a necessity and more like a luxury.That might be changing.“They don’t even look at the forecast,” Tony Rowell, owner of Premier Heating and AC in Barre, said of new customers seeking air conditioning. “They just feel it, and th