Millions of Americans in southeast Texas endured brutally hot conditions on Tuesday without the relief of air conditioning after deadly Tropical Storm Beryl knocked out power to a large portion of the region. Scorching heat also baked much of the Western U.S. and Canada, raising the risk of wildfires.
About 2 million Texas homes and businesses were without electricity, according to Poweroutage.us, as temperatures were reaching above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C) at midday on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
“Without power across much of Southeast Texas in the wake of Beryl, no air conditioning could make for dangerous conditions,” the service said.
The heat wave has also sent temperatures soaring across much of western Canada, increasing the risk of wildfires, said Armel Castellan, a meteorologist at Environment Canada.
The federal weather agency issued heat warnings on Tuesday for parts of the Pacific coast province of British Columbia, the main oil-producing province of Alberta, and Saskatchewan in the Canadian prairies.
There were 59 forest fires burning in Alberta and 97 in British Columbia as of Tuesday.
The British Columbia village of Lytton, where 90% of structures burned down in a wildfire in 2021, was the hottest place in Canada at about 2 p.m. (2100 GMT) at 39 C (102 F).
In light of the power autage and height temps in Houston, I’m interested in building a low power cooling room. Anyone here have experience with such a thing?
In houston, too humid for evaporative cooling to work.
IF it was me i would buy the smallest most efficient AC and run it on solar panels bought off used resale sites that have them for 1/3rd new price you can build a simple super insulated miniroom with those rigid insulation panels taped together.
Pretty good idea. I’d never thought about reducing the space like that before. We should get a heat prep Lemmy community on the go.