Extreme Heat Drives Texas Power Requirements To Unusual Spring Levels

Smoke is flooding the skies in portions of Texas. Wildfires are raging out of control; the brush is dry, and all it takes is a single spark to start the next raging fire.

Extreme temperatures are another consideration. The triple-digit heat is exacerbating the situation.

"It's just not good," one meteorologist said.

Energy consumption in Texas is expected to spike to levels seldom seen outside of summer as a spring heatwave raises temperatures and millions of people turn on air conditioners.

Hot summer in Texas in May

(Photo : KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

The weather in Amarillo this season of the year is expected to be around 78 degrees.

However, they've been shattering records and rising into the triple digits throughout Friday.

On Friday, the temperature in the city reached 90 degrees.

That was the first time we did it in May, according to Alex Ferguson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Amarillo. But things only got worse from there.

The next day, May 7, Amarillo reached 101 degrees, breaking yet another record, as per CNN.

That broke a 1916 (daily high temperature) record. According to Ferguson, the previous record for May 7 was 97. That was also the earliest 100-degree day in Amarillo.

The Austin/San Antonio weather service is also keeping track of records.

San Antonio reached triple digits on Saturday and Sunday and is expected to do so again today.

To others, it may appear to be simply a collection of statistics, but to the people of Amarillo, it represents much more.

The heat has only exacerbated a slew of issues, especially since the region is experiencing severe drought.

Also Read: New Worldwide Estimates of Coastal Heatwaves Predict Environmental and Economic Consequences

Power outages due to heatwave

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's major grid operator, said it had secured adequate supply to satisfy power demand throughout the day.

Demand on the grid reached 67.3 gigatonnes early Monday afternoon and is expected to peak at 71.1 gigatonnes around 5 p.m. time zone, as per Bloomberg.

That's around 3.7 gigatonnes less than the state's all-time demand high, achieved in August 2019.

Temperatures will likely remain hot for many days in the central United States, with the most heat concentrating in West Texas, according to Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster with the U.S. Weather Forecasting Center Dallas might reach 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Celsius) on Monday, with temperatures significantly higher to the south and west.

A massive blocking weather pattern is pinning weather patterns in place throughout North America and the western Atlantic, keeping the Pacific Northwest and the eastern United States chilly and damp and the central United States scorching.

Some other illustration is a hurricane that inundated the mid-Atlantic last weekend and is expected to loop around and rebound to Florida by the end of the week, according to Oravec.

According to Ercot, renewable energy supply is strong, meeting around 45 percent of the grid's demand at midday local time.

Wind energy is meeting expectations, while solar power is rising but dropping short of expectations.