Cities across California broke and tied all-time temperature records on Tuesday. Despite the record-breaking use of power that evening, Californians were able to avoid blackouts across the state thanks to power conservation efforts.
The news: As temperatures surged on Tuesday evening, California’s power grid operator announced that power usage had reached 52,061 megawatts, an all-time record for the state. If demand didn’t reduce quickly, threats of blackouts loomed over the state.
- Californians were urged to reduce power usage between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., in an attempt to keep major cities on the power grid.
- Some cities even issued strategic power outages, taking portions of cities temporarily off the grid to soften the blow, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A happy ending: Even though some cities experienced minor outages on Tuesday, the majority of California avoided major blackouts, due to conservation efforts throughout the state.
More to come: Although catastrophe was avoided on Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that the fight against heat was not over.
- The National Weather Service announced that the state is expected to get even hotter this week, with more record-breaking temperatures of up to 116 degrees.
Take action: Californians are urged to stay informed by staying up to date with local emergency alerts.
- Residents have been asked to set their air conditioners to 78 degrees or higher, avoid usage of major appliances and turn off unnecessary lights.