Heatwave

[B Ozanne]

I'm starting to get a little excited. The East Coast is set to bake (more like steam) through the middle of the week. An excessive heat watch was just issued for my area, and we may even see 100F temperatures for the first time in many years. NYC gets particulalry exciting when temps start getting this hot, and the possibility of a blackout is always there.

 

[David Wolfson]

Many records broken yesterday:

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RAPID CITY SD
1115 PM MDT SUN JUL 30 2006

...CORRECTED FOR WRONG DATE...

...ALL TIME RECORD HIGH TIED IN WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA TODAY...
...NUMEROUS DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS SET TODAY IN WESTERN
SOUTH DAKOTA AND NORTHEASTERN WYOMING...

LIST OF ALL TIME RECORD MAX TEMPERATURE TIED TODAY, JULY 30TH.

LOCATION NEW ALL TIME OLD RECORD
RECORD HIGH

MOUNT RUSHMORE 100 100 LAST 7/11/1985


LIST OF DAILY MAX TEMPERATURE RECORDS SET OR TIED TODAY, JULY 30TH.

IN SOUTH DAKOTA

LOCATION NEW RECORD HIGH OLD RECORD

MAURINE 10 SW 112 106 1975
MILESVILLE 5 NE 111 104 1988
DUPREE 110 105 1988
RAPID CITY AIRPORT 109 104 1988
FAITH 109 104 1988
REDIG 11 NE 108 103 1988
FORT MEADE 105 104 1988
SPEARFISH 104 103 1995
WFO RAPID CITY 104 100 1900
LEAD 96 93 1988

IN WYOMING

LOCATION NEW RECORD HIGH OLD RECORD

NEWCASTLE 106 103 1995
COLONY 104 102 1935
GILLETTE 4SE 102 100 1988
SUNDANCE 99 97 1934
[/b]

 

[B Ozanne]

Some numbers from coastal Fairfield County, CT. At 1pm it was 90 degrees at my house with a Td of 77. I think the forecast is on track here to hit the mid-90's.

What's more interesting though is the New England power grid. With four hours to go until peak demand (5pm when everyone gets home and turns on their a/c) there is only 3,000 Mw of supply left. Actually, there is only 1,000 Mw with a reserve of 2,000 Mw. I'm not sure about the grid that powers NYC and DC, but they are already breaking records for demand.

Edit: A few more numbers from around NYC:

JFK: 93/76
LGA: 97/73
EWR: 96/76

 

[Joel Wright]

Wow. I am pretty amazed right now. As of 2am local time the temperature is still 84, with a heat index near 90. I can't remember it being this warm in the middle of the night before. Des Moines is reporting 87! Both of these values are very near the average high for this time of year. Very impressive...

 

[Matthew Havin]

The real story for this entire heatwave will happen later today: in the East.

Ridiculous heat along the I-95 corridor from Washington DC/Baltimore to NYC to Boston.....with highs in all places in between likely hitting 100F+ this afternoon. A record energy load was recorded for the NYC metro yesterday when Newark and LaGuardia hit 100F, along with much of the Mid-Atlantic. Now for later today, the record energy load will likely get whupped again.......this time from DC to Boston.

Newark's all-time high is 105F.....and they will likely see 100-104 today. New Jersey should cook with 100+ everywhere but a few coastal locations.

And you KNOW it will be all over the news! It's New York! The center of the world!

Addition: If you live in the area, turn some crap off for the day...the extra computer, lights, keep the thermostat a bit warmer. I am sure you have been told on the news already.

 

[B Ozanne]

Yep, today is the biggy, and we are well on our way. This morning's low was 80 at my house. At 2am it was also 84 here.

My high yesterday was 96, and it snuck in at 5:45pm.

For those interested in power problems you can track New England's power usage here: http://www.iso-ne.com/

Available capacity today is around 30,000 Mw. We are forecasted to peak at 28,000, but you never know.

Some other power data can be found here:
http://pjm.com/index.jsp
http://www.nyiso.com/public/index.jsp

 

[B Ozanne]

Update: As of 12:30pm we are running about 5 degrees above yesterday at the same time. There's a real chance of hitting 100F here in Darien.

Also as of 12:30 the New England power grid has broken yesterday's record, which was set in the early evening.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Near my g/f's (and my, actually) house in PA, in Selinsgrove, yesterday they recorded 93 degrees at 2:50PM, but the kicker is the Td of 81 at 6:50PM. I still wish I was there, because that's where Floss is, but yikes!

 

[Laura Duchesne]

We are experiencing the stupid heat in Ontario too... here in the great lakes, heatwaves feel terrible because the humidity makes it feel much worse. We've been seeing 45-50 C as our humidex (heat index for you US folk).

I like warm weather but this is ridiculous, you go out there for just a little bit and you're sweating and begging to go back inside an air conditioned place.

 

[mikegeukes]

HEAT – THE NUMBER ONE NON-SEVERE WEATHER RELATED KILLER IN THE UNITED STATES
http://www.magazine.noaa.gov/stories/mag208.htm

SUMMER’S PEAK HAS ARRIVED
Caution: Deadly Heat Wave Reaches East Coast
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2674.htm

August Predicted Temps
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/pred.../off15_temp.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/30day/

Mike

 

[Bill Hark]

It was 101 in Richmond, Virginia. Due to the strain on the electricity, a transformer blew in my neighborhood last night. I was without power (and A/C) for most of last night. Power was restored and another transformer died giving me about 6 hours of no power this afternoon.

Bill Hark

 

[Robert Dewey]

It was 101 in Richmond, Virginia. Due to the strain on the electricity, a transformer blew in my neighborhood last night. I was without power (and A/C) for most of last night. Power was restored and another transformer died giving me about 6 hours of no power this afternoon.

Bill Hark
[/b]

Welcome to the club... We've had to have our transformers replaced several times in the past month, and they FINALLY decided to upgrade to bigger units.

In the past 30 days, we've been without power at least 5 times (for a period greater than 12 hours). The funny thing was, it only affected 100-200 people, so it wasn't high priority.