Unprecedented heat sends California power grid to the brink
Emergency power generators were used for the first time ever as a heat wave incited a record-setting energy demand in California with the temperature in one of the state's most populated cities reaching 116 F.
California's power grid was pushed to its limit on Tuesday as cities and towns across the state endured the hottest weather ever experienced, more extreme than the hottest summer days on record.
The mercury in Sacramento topped out at a staggering 116 F on Tuesday afternoon, shattering the city's old all-time record of 114 F that was set on July 17, 1925. What makes Tuesday's heat so impressive is that it occurred in September after the start of meteorological fall while the previous record set nearly a century ago occurred during the dog days of summer.
“The past few years in California, it’s really rough,” Sacramento resident Debbie Chang told The Associated Press. “I really love this state. And growing up I never imagined I’d exactly want to live outside of California, unless maybe internationally. But this is very difficult.”
Chang did her part to help people cope with the extreme weather, walking around the city and passing out water and snacks to people she came across on the streets of Sacramento.
“While a lot of people can stay home, a lot of people do not have a home to stay in,” Sacramento County spokeswoman Janna Haynes said.
And it wasn't just the high temperatures that set records as the withering heat peaked. Energy output broke records as well. Power demand on Tuesday peaked at 52,061 megawatts, exceeding the state's previous record of 50,270 megawatts set on July 24, 2006, according to the AP.
Officials had been pleading with residents to conserve energy for days leading up to Tuesday's heat-inducing surge in energy demand to avoid widespread power outages. No significant outages occurred, but AccuWeather's Bill Wadell, who was in Sacramento on Tuesday, reported that there were more than 70,000 outages at one point during the afternoon.
For the first time ever, temporary emergency power generators were used on Tuesday to help meet the power demands and to avoid more extensive power outages across California. The natural gas-fueled generators were built specifically to help the state meet the energy demand during high-demand periods. However, the use of these emergency power sources did generate some discussion.
Alexis Sutterman, an energy equity manager at California Environmental Justice Alliance, told Wadell that the extreme heat is a result of climate change. "Even though it seems like a short-term solution to just go back to fossil fuels, that's really what put us in this mess in the first place and it's going to keep us in this cycle," she said.
Alexis Sutterman talks about the use of fossil fuels during extreme heat in Sacramento, California. (AccuWeather/Bill Wadell)
Wadell also spoke with Mark Dayson, who works for a non-profit energy transition group, who said that renewable energy sources can help solve the energy demand problem, especially when there is a surge in energy demand like what was experienced on Tuesday.
"Every megawatt of battery energy storage or solar power that we can bring online will help to maintain the reliability of the current system, and those resources will also do their part to minimize the effect of climate change," Dayson explained.
Unprecedented heat was reported elsewhere in California with new all-time records set in San Jose (109 F), Napa (114 F), Santa Rosa (115 F), King City (116 F) and Merced (116 F).
Death Valley had been flirting with its all-time September temperature record nearly every day since the calendar turned to September late last week. The thermometer fell just one degree shy of the record on three of the first four days of the month. The temperature finally reached the benchmark of 125 F on Tuesday, which tied the monthly record set just two years prior on Sept. 5, 2020.
Nearly as impressive as the peak temperatures in Death Valley is how long the abnormal warmth lingered. The temperature in Death Valley did not drop below 110 F until after midnight and was still a sweltering 102 F at 5:14 a.m. on Wednesday before bottoming out at 99 at 7:34 a.m. Typically in early September, the high temperature is around 112 F followed by an overnight low of 83 F.
Heat is believed to have contributed to the death of a hiker who was on a multi-day backpacking trip in Grand Canyon National Park on Sunday, Sept. 4, park officials said in a statement. The high temperature that day reached 115 F at Phantom Ranch.
As of Wednesday morning, 311 new record high temperatures have been set across the U.S. in September, with another 165 records in jeopardy of being broken through Sunday, Sept. 11, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.
The unusual heat has not been limited just to California.
Prior to this month, the all-time September temperature record in Salt Lake City was 100 F, which was reached on three separate occasions, most recently on Sept. 5, 2020. Since the turning of the calendar, the September temperature record has been broken four times following a high of 102 F on Sept. 1, 103 F on Sept. 3, 104 F on Sept. 5 and 105 F on Sept. 6. On Sept. 7, the city tied its all-time record for any month, topping out at 107 F.
The temperature in Salt Lake City has now reached triple digits on 34 occasions this year, a significantly higher number than any other year on record. Previously, the record for the most 100-degree days in a single year was 21, which was most recently achieved in 2021.
The extreme heat across the Western U.S. made it even more challenging for firefighters battling blazes across the region, including those in Southern California working to contain the deadly Fairview Fire. The wildfire has claimed the lives of at least two people near Hamlet, California, located about two hours southeast of Los Angeles.
Some relief is on the way from an unusual source for both the crews working to contain the fire in Southern California and residents waiting for a break in the heat.
Hurricane Kay, which developed off the western coast of Mexico, is taking a northerly track that will send tropical moisture surging across Southern California and part of the interior Southwest later this week.
The center of Kay is projected to make a last-minute westward turn on its approach to California, but this will not stop the tropical moisture from spreading across the region, delivering rain, clouds and an uptick in humidity. This combination will help crews contain fires burning across the region, but heavy rain could spark flash flooding and travel delays across the region.
Elsewhere across the West, the heat is forecast to ease back some after Wednesday, retreating from all-time record territory, but it will remain unusually hot compared to September's standards.
The focus of the heat could shift over Washington and Oregon by the weekend, promoting near-record temperatures in Portland and Seattle and elevating the wildfire threat across the entirety of the Pacific Northwest.
Additional reporting by AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
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