Arizona power companies prepared to deliver during heatwave
A potentially historic heatwave will put the state's energy providers to the test next week.
(Pixabay Photo)
(Pixabay Photo)
PHOENIX — A potentially historic heatwave will put the state’s energy providers to the test next week.
The Valley was expecting four straight days above 115 degrees, with Monday’s high forecast at 119 degrees and 120 or higher possible Tuesday.
Sunday’s high was set at 114.
Dangerous and DEADLY heat arrives this weekend and continues into next week. Temperatures will near 120°F by Tuesday!!! #azwx #cawx pic.twitter.com/4s5ZG3FmYx
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) June 16, 2017
Utility companies Arizona Public Service, Salt River Project and others will be pumping out the power to keep the air conditioners going, possibly at record usage.
Metro Phoenix has endured four straight days above 115 several times and even four consecutive above 118 in 1990 during the stretch including the hottest day in Phoenix history with 122 on June 26.
Since then millions more people call the state home and the utilities have many more resources they can pull power from.
Annie DeGraw with APS said the company was ready to deal with the heatwave but it’s always a great idea for customers to have an emergency kit at home in case of power loss.
“Enough water of course for the entire family. Nonperishable food items. Flashlight and extra batteries. A car charger for your phone.
“In the event of a power outage customers have multiple ways to contact us. They can go through the APS app on their phones, contact us online, call us, tweet us, Facebook us. If you have an outage at your home call us. We need to know about it.”
APS serves power to about 2.7 million people in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties.
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Comments
3 Comments
Sooner or later, with the growing population and no new power plants on horizon, they won't be able to keep up on really hot days. Rolling blackouts in future?
Re-asking here, just because I'm curious and don't have the means to build the below structure.
So here's a bit of an applied physics question, I suppose: If it was 115 degrees, fairly dry, non-windy and I had a 2 foot thick concrete structure overhead, with about about 10 feet of ground to ceiling clearance, what would the temperature be in the center if it was 30 feet in diameter? How about 70 feet? 100 feet?
I figure at some point the center would get pretty chilly. I could have a water faucet in the middle there and just have folks chilling out while riding out the heat wave.
At least there isn't a directive from the state office forbidding government employees from mentioning the heat to the public. Oh, hello Florida, no, I wasn't talking about you... directly...