Climate Correspondent California Heat
Author: Peter Kaminski Issue: 2022-09-07
Climate Correspondent: California Heat
A new semi-regular item about living with extreme climate events. This issue's correspondent is your intrepid editor, Peter Kaminski. Send Pete an email when you want to tell us about the next extreme weather event where you are.
Greetings from the heat dome in the western United States that's dominating the weather last week and this week. All-time high temperature records were set (110-116F, 43-47F) in places that shouldn't be that hot.
Death Valley hit calendar day records of 120-125F (49-52C), with one night's low at 102F (39C) tying the highest minimum temperature ever recorded worldwide during September.
It's hot. And it hasn't been cooling off at night the way it usually does. Californians may no longer be able to avoid air conditioning, as The Washington Post says.
California’s Independent System Operator (the body that coordinates electricity generation and distribution) says the power grid hit a peak demand of 52,061 megawatts yesterday evening, which is a new all-time record. The previous record of 50,270 megawatts was on 24 July 2004. Cal ISO was worried that they'd have to order rolling blackouts, but Californians reduced peak demand enough that it didn't come to pass.
I'm not complaining, other places have had it worse. But I have to observe, when it's your turn on the climate-go-round, and you know it's only going to get worse year after year, it's unsettling.
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