Climate Watch: Record heatwave stretches across 10 U.S. states – rolling blackouts in California

Many people retreat to the mountains to seek relief from the heat in the Northwest, but extra precautions may be needed if you go there this weekend. “It’s going to be hot this weekend!” The Mount Rainier National Park Service warned on its Twitter page. “Hot weather can make park rivers run strong and cold with melting glacier ice & snow. Please practice water safety during river crossings.” Basically, when temperatures soar, snow and ice melt at faster rates and can fill the rivers up more quickly than usual. So, people who may retreat into those rivers, creeks, and streams may be surprised by how swift the current is, compared to normal.

This week has been a bad one for western wildfires. Fires have destroyed more than 90,000 acres across three states and continue to spread rapidly. Evacuation orders have been issued for Los Angeles County, California, Wasco County, Oregon, as well as Garfield and Larimer counties in Colorado. In Los Angeles County, there are two active fires — the Lake Fire and Ranch2 Fire. The Ranch2 Fire has forced over 300 homes to be evacuated. The Lake Fire has destroyed at least three structures so far and is threatening another 5,000.  –CNN

Sweltering California heat led to high demand on the state’s power grid Friday, prompting rolling blackouts across the state that left more than 350,000 homes and businesses without power in the evening hours. Officials warn the outages could continue in the coming days. The California Independent System Operator, which manages the state power grid, declared a stage 3 emergency Friday night, which sets off rolling power outages when the demand for electricity is higher than the supply. It was the first time since 2001 that such an emergency was declared.

Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility provider, said in a news release that power was shut off for a couple of hours Friday night to about 220,000 customers in El Dorado, Marin, Napa, San Mateo and Sonoma counties. Southern California Edison shut off power to about 132,000 customers, company spokesman David Song told the Los Angeles Times. “Extreme heat is really the driver behind this,” Anne Gonzales, spokeswoman for the power grid operator, told The Associated Press.   –Weather