An intense multi-day hot wave erupted Friday in high gear, prompting power outages across California as the state’s power grid was overwhelmed by energy demands.
A Phase 3 alarm was issued at 6:30 p.m. by the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid. The agency has not declared a statewide emergency of this kind since 2001.
More than 300,000 customers in both Northern and Southern California were without power on points Friday, according to one tractor for power outages. By 10 a.m., power had been restored to the state.
Temperatures for some parts of the state are expected to reach triple digits next week.
Across the country, about 150 million people are set to experience temperatures above 90 degrees over the next week, and 50 million of those forecast to find temperatures above 100 degrees.
More than 80 million people were warmed by warnings from the Central and Southern Plains on Friday, as well as for almost the entire West Coast. The hefty warnings about the map included heat advice, excessive heat watches and excessive heat warnings all issued by the National Water Service.
Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle are one of the cities under alert.
For the Plains, high temperatures were predicted from 100 to 107 degrees, and heat index values 105-115 degrees. This heat is expected to continue until Sunday with cooler temperatures expected next week.
For the West, an excessively hot warning is in effect until Wednesday for parts of Arizona, California and Nevada, with high temperatures expected to reach 110-125 degrees.
Two factors that make this heating event particularly dangerous are the longevity in new week and high humidity.
Temperatures in the upper 90s and 100s could persist for the next 10 days. Often it is not only the warm temperature that matters in one day, but instead how many consecutive days remain at dangerous levels at a range of temperatures.
“The longing for the heat is more about the record-breaking temperatures,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Trevor Boucher.
When you talk about the West, the heat is often described as a “dry heat.” This time, tropical moisture flowing into the region from what Hurricane Elida was (since unraveling), will make conditions more likely than normal and more dangerous. Humidity makes it harder for the body to cool down and also keeps nights warmer than usual, which is meant to be the recovery time for bodies to cool down.
If nights stay hot, it increases the risk of heat-related illnesses during the day.
“When people try to get out of temperatures at 90 degrees, they will be hard pressed to do it. Even in the shade, you will probably look at altitude temperatures that are well over 100, and these are the kinds of situations that it may relate to the accumulation of heat-related conversations and visits to the hospital, “Boucher said.
By the time the warm-up event is over, more than 100 daily record highs could fall. Cities setting new records include Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Sacramento.
The monthly records of the month are particularly noteworthy. Death Valley, California, is expected to rise above 125 degrees Sunday through Tuesday, and if it does, it will be the worst temperatures on record so late in the season.
If Phoenix reaches 117, that would correspond to the worst temperature recorded in the month of August.
This heat will be extremely dangerous for the more vulnerable populations, especially in cities, where the urban hot island effect – where an urban temperature is much warmer than rural areas in the neighborhood – combined with less access to air conditioning will increase the risk of heat illness.
Boucher stressed the importance of public cooling stations to help people get out of the heat, and also because people are smart about the energy consumption of their home, seeing that people are likely to run their air conditioning all day and night.
“The question we often get is, ‘you know, it’s summer. Why are we worried it’s hot? This is normal.’ Well, this kind of heat, this amount of heat for this long time is not normal, “Boucher said.
Alexander Gershunov, a research meteorologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, said heat waves of this nature are becoming more frequent due to climate change.
“These large and long-lasting heat waves are typically caused by a high-pressure building dome for construction, and this has a particularly strong high pressure and it is very extensive in the sense that it dominates the entire Southwest of the United States,” he said. Gershunov said. “That these patterns happen, and if they occur during the hottest summer temperatures in late July and early August, they can cause severe heat waves.”
The heatwave could send the Covid-19 pandemic over – and the pandemic would make things worse for those who see the heat as well. Indoor cooling centers, for example, could potentially contribute to the spread of the coronavirus as large crowds gather. People who lose their jobs can prevent themselves from running their air conditioners for fear of not being able to pay their energy bills. And heat waves, like the coronavirus, both affect breathing.
“With COVID-19 and other crises on top of each other, an extra extreme weather crisis simply connects the stress people are already feeling,” Gershunov said.
Climate change is increasing the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves such as these, particularly from the West. Las Vegas is the fastest warming American city, with Phoenix, Tucson and El Paso also nearing the top of the list.
Phoenix has already broken the record for number of days 110 degrees or higher this year, and if the city reaches 115 degrees on Friday, it will also set a new record for number of days (8) with an altitude of 115 or above. Phoenix is currently twice as likely to hit 110+ degrees compared to the 1950s.
And the heat is undoubtedly increasing the risk of fire over the West.
Red flag warnings were raised Friday for parts of Wyoming, Oregon and Washington and included Portland.
Very hot temperatures combined with low humidity and wind gusts up to 40 mph made conditions favorable for fire ignition and rapid fire spread.
While there were no red flag warnings for Southern California, the Lake Fire in Los Angeles County continued to burn. As of Friday morning, that fire covered 11,000 acres and contained 12 percent.
In Colorado, the Pine Gulf Fire north of Grand Junction grew to 73,381 acres, making it the fourth largest fire in Colorado history.
The intense heat rising across the West is coming on the heels of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) which on Thursday released its July monthly climate report on Monday stating that July 2020 is the second fullest July was on record for the planet, and the # 1 hottest on record for the Northern Hemisphere. It also explained that Arctic sea ice reached record lows.
Globally, 2020 is set to be one of the toughest years on record.
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