Tuesday, August 01, 2006

How hot will it get?

Although the weather is particularly delightful in my neck of the woods today, such is not the case across much of the country. Today, the Washington Post reports that temperatures may near 100 degrees in the D.C. area, with a heat index of as high as 110 degrees. Temperatures of this magnitude cause a severe spike in electricity use.

"Electricity demand records are falling like dominoes," said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, an electric power industry association. "The system is being tested everywhere."
According to this post in FutureWire, we should expect more of the same (and worse):
Get used to brutal heat waves that cause power outages and take lives, say scientists and weather experts. Not just for this summer -- above normal temperatures are forecast for August across the US -- but for the long term.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It amazes me that some people still deny global warming, when the evidence is right in front of them. It's what's been causing the massive hurricanes as well. Rising temperatures in the gulf of Mexico and water melted off from the polar ice caps are what makes storms like Katrina.