Brutal Heat Wave Continues In Riverside County; Outages Possible

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Brutal temperatures and a heat advisory urging caution are expected to continue through Monday in Riverside County, according to the National Weather Service.

After a day that saw triple-digit temperatures in many parts of the state, the California Independent System Operator declared a Stage 3 Emergency at 8 p.m. Friday and directed utility companies to initiate rotating outages throughout California.

Southern California Edison announced at 7:45 p.m. that it had been instructed to begin rotating, one-hour service interruptions. Shortly after, Riverside Public Utilities tweeted that "rotating outages may occur to maintain statewide grid stability."

Due to California ISO Stage 3 Emergency a request was made of power utilities across the state to curtail load or power. Rotating outages may occur to maintain statewide grid stability.
Please see current Riverside Public Utilities outage map here: https://t.co/OGk7aFYhZ3 pic.twitter.com/T2WIbxp7Jy
— Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) (@RPUnews) August 15, 2020

The Imperial Irrigation District, which services parts of the Coachella Valley, including Indio, did not announce any rolling blackouts, but did ask customers to conserve energy.

"While the district has been able to meet customer energy demand, we'd like to encourage customers to take some easy energy-saving measures during this time that can keep costs down and help maintain the reliability of the electric grid," IID Energy Manager Marilyn del Bosque Gilbert said.

The emergency was lifted shortly before 10 p.m., and power was restored.

Building high pressure over the southwestern United States have ushered in scorching temperatures for the next five to six days, forecasters said.

The NWS issued an excessive heat warning that will be in effect through 9 p.m. Monday in the Riverside metropolitan area, the Riverside County mountains, the San Gorgonio Pass near Banning and the Coachella Valley.

The NWS urged residents to drink plenty of fluids, stay out of the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. Also, young children, seniors and pets should be never be left unattended in a vehicle, with car interiors able to "reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes," according to the NWS.

High temperatures Saturday were forecast to reach 119 in the Coachella Valley, 117 in the San Gorgonio Pass near Banning, 108 in Hemet, 109 in Riverside, 106 in Lake Elsinore, 101 in Temecula and 93 in Idyllwild.

Highs in the Coachella Valley were forecast to remain around 116 through Wednesday, according to the NWS. The mercury in the Riverside metropolitan area was expected to top out around 110 in some communities Saturday, then remain in the mid-to-high 100s through Thursday.

Palm Springs and Thermal tied high temperature records for an Aug. 13 on Thursday, according to the NWS. Palm Springs recorded a high of 116 and the mercury reached 117 in Thermal, each matching their respective records from 2012.

Riverside County has 14 cooling centers available countywide with mandatory mask wearing and social distancing protocols in place.

Among the 14 locations, five are in the Coachella Valley, two in the Banning Pass, one in Moreno Valley, one in Temecula and five in Riverside.

A full list of the cooling center locations can be found at www.capriverside.org/Cool-Centers.

The Apple Fire, which burned 33,424-acres in the San Bernardino National Forest including a portion of the San Gorgonio Pass near Banning, was 90% contained as of Saturday night.

Winds out of the west Saturday were expected to be around 15 mph in that area, with 25 mph gusts possible throughout the day, forecasters said.

U.S. Forest Service officials said the gusty winds and increasing temperatures through the weekend could pose a challenge to containment efforts, but fire lines passed the test of winds earlier in the week and full containment was expected Monday.

—City News Service