While Texas is experiencing excessive and baking heat wave, the state's electricity usage shot up to an all-time high. The latest power use has topped levels last seen before the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the organization that operates the state's electrical grid – the Texas Interconnection, announced that the demand on the power grid surpassed 74.9 gigawatts, exceeding the record set back in August 2019.
ERCOT supplies power to more than 25 million Texas customers and represents 90 percent of the state's electric load.
Bloomberg said in a June 11 published article that the record underscores the searing heat and uncontrolled population growth in Texas. Some tech, aerospace and manufacturing companies prefer the state to make the most of low taxes and relatively cheap labor.
In a June 8 report titled "Assessing the U.S. Climate in May 2022," the National Centers for Environmental Information said: "For May, a persistent trough of low pressure over the Pacific Northwest contributed to Washington state ranking eighth coldest on record while the downstream ridge brought unseasonable warmth to the deep south, resulting in Texas ranking second warmest. "
Officials stated that there is ample power supply to meet the demand and that the grid is operating normally. They added that one gigawatt is already enough to supply electricity to around 200,000 homes in the second most populous state in America.
Texas' power grid is under scrutiny for the last 15 months. More than 240 people died after the system collapsed during a winter storm, leaving much of the state without power for days. (Related: Texas power grid was "seconds and minutes" away from months of total blackout.)
Heat wave to bake eastern and central U.S.
More than 100 million Americans are advised to stay indoors as high temperatures and humidity settle in areas stretching through parts of the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and east to the Carolinas.
The National Weather Service Prediction Center in Maryland said on June 13 that 107.5 million people will be affected by a combination of heat advisories, excessive heat warnings and heat watches.
The agency further stated that the heat wave, which set several high-temperature records in the west, the southwest and into Denver last weekend, moved east into parts of the Gulf Coast and the mid-west Monday, June 13, and will expand to the Great Lakes and east to the Carolinas.
St. Louis, Memphis, Minneapolis and Tulsa are some of the cities under excessive heat warnings, with forecasted temperatures to hit about 100 degrees, accompanied by high humidity that could make it feel like 110.
To escape the scorching heat, municipalities have announced opening cooling centers.
Chicago has set up cooling areas located at the city's six community service centers namely: Englewood Center, Garfield Center, King Center, North Area Center, South Chicago Center and Trina Davila Center.
In addition to cooling centers, the city's more than 75 public library locations and more than 31 park district field houses will also offer relief from the heat during their hours of operation. Officials also touted the more than 176 splash pads located across the city.
In Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, authorities opened cooling stations and the area transit system offered free rides to some of the locations.
In Minneapolis, 14 schools that are not fully air-conditioned moved to distance learning on June 14 as the city reached temperatures in the high 90s. Schools were supposed to end on June 10 but a three-week teacher’s strike in April pushed the final day to June 24.
Watch this video that talks about people who died in the Oregon heat wave last year.
This video is from the End Time News channel on Brighteon.com.
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