Nothing to See Here, Move Along
Jul 29th, 2006 at 1:44 pm by Susie
Oh, what’s the big deal? A little heat never killed anyone. Oh, wait….
LOS ANGELES, July 28 (Reuters) - The record-breaking heat wave that plagued California will pass this weekend to the U.S. Midwest and East Coast where high air conditioning use will strain electricity systems and increase the chance of outages, power officials and weather forecasters said.
The heat wave is not expected to be as long-lasting in the Midwest, Northeast or Mid-Atlantic as it was in California, where cities inland from the Pacific Ocean were over 100 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks and more.
The death toll in California topped 126 by Friday, state officials said. The hot spell is over for now for most of the West, forecasters agreed.
A string of extremely hot days through next Wednesday will rival those of mid-July when power grids in the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, New England and New York state all set records of electricity consumption. Power grids in all those locations were strained but held without major power outages, similar to what happened during California’s heat wave.
Heat and humidity will make it feel like 110 F in Eastern cities Philadelphia, New York and Washington by Tuesday, said Chris Hyde, meteorologist with MDA-EarthSat Weather.
“It’s looking like next week will be very similar to July 17 when we had all those power grids setting records,” said Hyde. “We have a pretty similar weather event shaping up. The (hottest days) will be Tuesday for Chicago (97 F) and on the East Coast Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Death Toll From Calif. Heat Rises to 132
The death toll from California’s record-breaking heat wave reached 132 on Friday, the first day in n
Remember all the uproar from the wing nuts of the death toll in France during the 2003 heat wave? Where’s the indignation now?