IT WAS SO HOT . . .; RECORD POWER USE THREATENS BROWNOUT; LAYER OF SMOG ADDS TO OUTDOOR MISERY.Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer On Day Two of the summer's second heat wave, Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and the rest of the state used so much power trying to cool off Monday that they pushed utilities toward a brownout A lowering of AC power voltage for some period of time. Brownouts can be very harmful to electronic equipment if sustained for long periods. Brownouts can cause flickering or a dimming on screen, and the computer may experience intermittent problems as a result. See blackout. . For the first time in two years, Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. and several other utility companies asked industrial and commercial customers to voluntarily reduce power usage or risk a statewide brownout. Triple-digit temperatures in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. prompted the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory. By Monday afternoon, the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Department of Water and Power had used 5,417 megawatts - just 100 megawatts away from breaking its all-time customer usage record. The ultraviolet index The UV index is an international standard measurement of how strong the ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is at a particular place on a particular day. It is a scale primarily used in daily forecasts aimed at the general public. level hit 10, meaning a fair-skinned person would suffer a sunburn sunburn, inflammation of the skin caused by actinic rays from the sun or artificial sources. Moderate exposure to ultraviolet radiation is followed by a red blush, but severe exposure may result in blisters, pain, and constitutional symptoms. in about four minutes if not protected. Air quality was a point away from being declared unhealthful by the Southern California Air Quality Management District. Temperatures should taper off Verb 1. taper off - end weakly; "The music just petered out--there was no proper ending" fizzle, fizzle out, peter out discontinue - come to or be at an end; "the support from our sponsoring agency will discontinue after March 31" 2. slightly today through Friday, with 100 predicted today in Woodland Hills and 96 on Wednesday. ``There will be a gradual cooling,'' said Dennis Tussey, meteorologist with the National Weather Service station in Oxnard. ``Temperatures will go down about four or five degrees for a few days until Friday.'' Melissa Olsen, 35, of Chatsworth said she'll take some of the blame for high power usage. She's been running her air conditioning air conditioning, mechanical process for controlling the humidity, temperature, cleanliness, and circulation of air in buildings and rooms. Indoor air is conditioned and regulated to maintain the temperature-humidity ratio that is most comfortable and healthful. nonstop since the start of June. ``I'm just keeping it on so my mom and my children are OK,'' Olsen said, heading out of a movie at The Promenade in Woodland Hills. ``I keep hearing about all the deaths from the heat wave in Texas.'' On Monday, thermometers surged past 100 degrees in Chatsworth, where it was 108 - shy of the record set in 1995, when heat soared to 114 - according to the National Weather Service. The high was 104 in Woodland Hills, 102 in Northridge and 101 in Van Nuys. The only record broken was in Lancaster, which reached 108 degrees, beating its previous record of 107 for this day in 1980. Glendale resident Roselie Ursery said she could not wait for daylight to come Monday because she had such trouble sleeping in the heat. ``I have air conditioning, I have fans, I have windows, but none of them satisfy me,'' Ursery said. She spent the day Monday at the air-conditioned Glendale Galleria. ``I get so aggravated with the heat and I have a tendency to spend money when it's hot,'' Ursery said. ``When I get home I say, Why did I buy all this?'' At the Department of Motor Vehicles In the United States of America, Department of Motor Vehicles (or DMV) is a commonly used name of the government agency of a U.S. state which administers the registration of automobiles (e.g., by issuing license plates), and/or the licensing of drivers (e.g. office in Winnetka, the crowd was a fraction of its usual size, said manager Angie Hernandez. ``Normally, they'd be lined up along the wall,'' Hernandez said. But for Robert Long, 33, of Granada Hills, the more heat, the better. He was jogging in black sweat pants and a long-sleeved shirt in O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills. ``I've been trying to lose weight forever and what with this heat wave in the last few weeks I've managed to drop 7 pounds,'' Long said. Still, the heat pushed people to switch on their power to cool down. Southern California Edison was one of three utilities asked by the California Independent Systems Operator on Monday to persuade business and other commercial customers to lower power usage. The ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. , which moves electricity generating plants to users, reported it lost power in four generators around the state. That lowered reserves, which need to be maintained at 7 percent of the projected usage for the day to ward off brownouts. ``If this type of program didn't exist, it's possible on particularly bad days that you could have involuntary brownouts,'' said ISO spokeswoman Tracy Fairchild. Some big Edison customers, such as Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City and Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain is an amusement park located just west of the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles. It opened on Memorial Day weekend on May 29, 1971 as Magic Mountain, by the Newhall Land and Farming Company,[1] in Valencia, said they already have energy-saving systems in place that help them keep a close eye on electricity consumption. Daily News Staff Writers David R. Baker, Lee Condon, Brooke Olson and Enrique Rivera contributed to this report. CAPTION(S): Photo, box PHOTO (color) Youngsters at Northridge Park cool off in 100-degree weather by frolicking in and around the pool. John McCoy/Daily News Box: L.A.'s high: 108 degrees in Chatsworth The outlook |
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