A girl cools off in a fountain in Aspen, Colorado, which saw high temperatures this week.Kelsey Brunner / AP
California and Texas, two states in ideological antipodes, have found this week that they have something very important in common.
The two regions, the two most populated in the country, have been forced to ask millions of inhabitants to reduce their use of electricity due to the overload of electrical systems.
The restrictions come amid a heat wave that also hits southern Arizona and Utah and extends throughout the western United States, regions that have suffered high temperatures days before the start of summer.
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54 degrees were recorded Thursday in Death Valley, a region of southeastern California where high temperatures are not unheard of. At that site, near the Nevada state line, mercury tends to drop some of the highest marks in North America. The one recorded this week, however, is close to the historical maximum, of 57 degrees, documented in July 1913 during a heat wave that left five consecutive days of 54 degrees. Palm Springs, also in the Californian desert, has suffered heat not seen since the 1990s. San Diego County, to the south, also had the second-hottest day in its history on Thursday in Ocotillo Wells. The wave has hit the state from north to south.
The high temperatures forced Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency on Thursday until at least this Friday, when clouds from the coast are expected to enter the San Francisco Bay area to cool the situation.
The area has suffered from poor air quality due to smoke from the fires that come from neighboring Arizona, where three towns in the southeast were evacuated by the fire and the situation had no signs of improvement with forecasts of 43 degrees.
Added to this is the worst drought in the west in two decades, which has at its lowest levels since 1937 Lake Mead, the body of water created by the Hoover Dam, and which provides water to 25 million people.
The US government reported Wednesday that Lake Mead is at 36% capacity, the lowest level since it opened in 1937. Ethan Miller / AFP
In Arizona, the heat last year killed at least 323 people in Maricopa County alone, where Phoenix is located. Climate change is becoming increasingly deadly. What was considered the worst heat wave 41 years ago, registered in July 1980, left 180 deaths throughout the state. The city authorities created in May an office in charge of responding to the situation that the summer will bring.
This week, California's energy regulator asked 40 million residents to reduce energy use, unplug electrical appliances and cars, and regulate the thermostat in their homes between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. "High temperatures and high demand have put, and will continue to put, a lot of pressure on California's power grid," said Governor Newsom, a Democrat, in the published emergency declaration. In San Francisco public buildings and libraries were declared cooling sites where water and air conditioning are provided.
The week began with a similar request in Texas, where a perfect storm was created. The electricity grid was threatened not only by the high demands caused by the heat. Also because various reasons affected the work of four thermal plants that work with natural gas throughout the State, of 29 million people. The failures caused 12,000 fewer megawatts to be generated on Monday alone, enough to power 2.4 million homes on a hot summer day. The regulator also asked residents to moderate consumption and set their air conditioners to 27 degrees at night.
The latest climate crisis came to mind for Texans, registered just this winter. The low temperatures also caused grid failures that left millions of people without power. At least 151 residents died in the season, including Cristian Pavon, an eleven-year-old boy who died of hypothermia in February inside a trailer in Conroe County. Other analyzes believe that the death toll is actually close to 700 people.
“It seems that our network in Texas not only can't stand the cold. Neither does the heat ”, Cristina Tzintzun, a 39-year-old Texan who lives in Austin and chairs Next Generation America. The activist believes that the situation has also become a political crisis for Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who has avoided talking about climate problems and has preferred to present this week an initiative to continue the border wall initiated by Donald Trump between the United States and the United States. Mexico. “In Texas, politicians don't want to tackle climate change. Millions of people are being left behind and they do not base their decisions on science but on the interests of their donors and political bases ”, adds Cristina, who recalls that those most affected by high temperatures in the State are Latinosthose who work outdoors in construction work, farmers and in gardening.
Back in California, the temperature is expected to take a breather in parts of the state starting this weekend. But meteorologists and specialists do not remain calm with this news. Summer is just coming. And there are fears that it will bring the worst fire season ever seen in a region with high heat and little water.