(Sacramento) A record-breaking heat wave made life miserable across much of the United States on Tuesday as California entered a second week of extreme heat, hitting the state’s power supply with record demand and bringing it close to blackouts. People tried hard to keep their cool.
Posted at 6:32 pm
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the agency that oversees the state’s power grid, has issued a Phase 3 alert that allows it to tap into backup power sources. The warning is one step below the order that provides for rotational power outages.
CAISO said the peak power demand reached 52,061 MW on Tuesday, up from a peak of 50,270 MW on July 24, 2006.
As night fell, businesses closed and demand fell.
Earlier, CAISO posted a message on its mobile phone app urging customers to reduce their electricity consumption and warning that “power outages may occur if you do not take action”.
The Stage 3 alert ended at 8pm on Tuesday with no power outages. CAISO thanked consumers, posting a message on Twitter stating that “consumer protection has played a big role in protecting the reliability of the electricity grid.”
However, without intentional outages, tens of thousands of people in Northern California were left without power.
About 35,700 people lost power in the southern and inland parts of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of the outages were heat-related, Pacific Gas & Electric’s Jason King said Tuesday night. It is not known when the electricity will be restored.
California’s state capital, Sacramento, hit a record high of 46.7°C on Tuesday, beating the 45.5°C recorded in July 1925, according to the National Weather Service.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, temperatures in half a dozen cities matched or surpassed historic records. In Los Angeles, temperatures hit the mid-30s on Tuesday, prompting the nation’s second-largest school district to limit the use of asphalt and concrete playgrounds.
In neighboring Nevada, temperatures in the city of Reno reached 41°C on Tuesday, making it the hottest day in September and breaking the previous record for the date of 35.5°C set in 1944.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, which is more than 1,219 meters above sea level, temperatures were nearly 20 degrees above normal, reaching 40.5°C on Tuesday, the hottest September on record since 1874.
Climate change has made the West hotter and drier over the past three decades, making the weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive, scientists say. Over the past five years, California has experienced some of the largest and most destructive wildfires in the state’s history.
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