Record Heat in California

Clip Season 48 Episode 4804
California baked under a record heat wave this week, as temperatures soared to 116 degrees in Sacramento on Tuesday.

California baked under a record heat wave this week, as temperatures soared to 116 degrees in Sacramento on Tuesday.

Transcript

California baked under a record heat wave this week, as temperatures soared to 116 degrees in Sacramento on Tuesday.

The state's electrical utilities requested customers conserve energy during peak points, and the voluntary cutbacks reduced demand enough that the use of rolling blackouts was avoided. Tuesday’s 52,000 megawatts of electrical demand set a record for the state.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, (D) California: "27 million of those text messages went out. And within 45 minutes, we saw roughly 2600 megawatt reduction and uses had that not happened, we would have had some episodic load reduction. The state ISO, which is the Independent System Operator did not direct any load reductions, period, full stop. So there were localized decisions as a relates to issues related to extreme heat and extreme utilization of resources, which are not a typical. "

The hot and dry weather drove animals at the Orange County Zoo into the pool to find relief from the heat. Workers on outdoor projects were taking more breaks to avoid heat related illnesses. 

The record temps aggravated the effects of the multi-decadal drought in the region which helped spread wildfires throughout the state. A fire in the mountains of Riverside County killed two people (day) and has burned over 20,000 acres. The fire was only X percent contained on Friday.

Hurricane Kay is complicating the weather in the Southwest. The closest hurricane to near California in 25 years could bring flash flooding to portions of California and Arizona and moderate rain to a large portion of the region. 

On a global scale, the  World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the U.N. weather agency, is warning that there may be a third La Nina in a row. La Nina events often lead to more Atlantic hurricanes, less rain and more wildfires in the Western U.S., and agricultural losses in the central U.S. 

Wilfran Moufouma Okia, World Meteorological Organization: “For instance, when you have La Nina, West Africa -- an area going from Senegal to Sudan -- normally is struck by floods; East Africa by drought; Australia, Indonesia with floods, and so forth. So knowing the evolution of La Nina helps us anticipate."

The recent floods in Pakistan are believed to have been worsened by the current La Nina event. 

For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs.

Read the Full Transcript

Watch More

    EpisodeSeason51Episode5137
    The Farm Bill clears the House with an unknown future. The Supreme Court takes up the issue of cancer warnings for RoundUp. Extremes in weather from tornadoes to rain to wildfires hit across the country. And, commodity market analysis with Arlan Suderman.
    ClipSeason51Episode5137
    Cotton, Hormuz Straight, inflation, energies, the Mexican border closure, drought and the Fed's balance sheet are all topics covered in our Market Plus.
    ClipSeason51Episode5137
    Arlan Suderman breaks down the impact of global weather on the wheat, corn and soybean markets in addition to inflation already showing up in commodities in our Market Analysis
    ClipSeason51Episode5137
    After three years of delays, the U.S. House passed a new version of the Farm Bill. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate.
    ClipSeason51Episode5137
    A week of fires, floods and severe weather covered much of the country.
    ClipSeason51Episode5137
    Attorneys gave oral arguments were given in front of the U.S. Supreme Court this week over whether or not labels on the controversial herbicide Roundup needed to be specific about being a potential cancer risk.