365,000 people without power in Michigan following severe storms, burning heat
Michiganders faced an array of dangerous weather woes Tuesday that included extreme heat that felt like it was 100 degrees, violent thunderstorms that knocked out power to more than 365,000 homes and businesses, and set off tornado sirens.
“This was the kind of instability we see once or twice a year,” Dave Kook, a National Weather Service meteorologist from White Lake Township, told the Free Press later Tuesday afternoon while he watched storms that were sweeping across the state. “And it’s here now.”
Alongside the intense heat and severe storms, the Weather Service had warned in the early morning that there was a chance that the unusual summer weather pattern could also result in damaging wind gusts, and even the possibility of hail that is quarter-sized.
As of 10 p.m. strong storms had caused power outages to almost 13,000 Consumers Energy customers in northern Michigan and the Grand Rapids area, with the company saying it would “work through the night” to repair it, and another 22,444 DTE Energy customers in southeast Michigan.
DTE announced on its website “storm update” that the utility was “working as quickly and safely as possible” to restore service. It was also taking on hundreds of personnel “from outside our area to help speed restoration.”
The disruptions forced businesses such as grocery stores to shut down numerous organizations like Scout groups to postpone their evening meetings at churches, as well as other public spaces, and left traffic intersections, already a danger because of the rain with no working traffic lighting.
More:Corn sweat might cause Midwest heat wave feel a bit more muggier. Yes, it’s true that corn sweat.
The good thing is that the majority of Michiganders were paying attention to the advice. Some tried to keep a an empathetic view of the warnings. The extreme heat in the state, according to forecasters it won’t continue for too long.
The advisory from the weather service about heat that was posted was posted on social media in the early hours of Tuesday was accompanied with vibrant graphic designs in red and yellow, recommended to take breaks in shade at work sites, ensuring those with a medical condition, the elderly or the ones “without AC,” never leaving pets or kids in vehicles and limiting physical exertion in the outdoors.
The advisory led to several school closures as well as revised schedules for classes across the metro area of Detroit as well as across the southern portion in the entire state. Detroit schools that do not feature air conditioners, rearranged their schedules. Eastpointe along with Southfield schools followed suit.
Many west Michigan school districts in west Michigan that include Grand Rapids, Hudsonville, Portage, Ionia and other communities, have also announced early dismissals and closures.
But, as some of the most shrewd observers pointed out, this will not solve the issue because the majority of kids are in homes which don’t have air conditioners or an option to cool down, and they’ll have to go to library or similar public places.
Thousands of deaths due to heat
In addition to what’s happening in the news Climate scientists are concerned that the heat of Tuesday is the sign of a wider — and potentially more dangerous trend that, in the event that nothing is done the situation will only increase and will not just put human health at risk, but also the health of the planet.
Extreme heat is becoming a risk to health, and as experts are worried about. It’s likely to cause problems because climate forecasts predict that it will become more frequent and intense over the future decades and deaths related to heat being on the rise in recent years.
And across the globe this summer and July have been among the most hot ever recorded.
The heat advisory issued in Michigan was also a part of a larger weather pattern that covered the eastern and central United States, and recent news reports claimed that the unusually scorching temperature this week may record records, bringing an end to what, for a couple of days, seemed like early autumn weather.
The actual temperature for the southeast of Michigan forecasters stated ranged from 90 to 91 degrees.
The heat index, or how hot it feels, in comparison to the actual temperature is, was much higher than 100. It also posed various health risks including heat exhaustion and dehydration, heat stroke sleep loss, asthma hospitalization for heart diseases as well as cognitive decline.
The heat death rate are not easy to determine among those that are the case, research suggests that it kills more people across the country than any other weather phenomenon.
Wild fires, warm lakes
Alongside the risks to human health Research has shown that the temperatures are causing drier conditions, which are causing rising temperatures in the oceans and lakes, the melting of glaciers and polar caps and, with more frequent fire seasons, as well as an increase in the dryness of forest fuels.
Decreased moisture in forests in the western U.S. from 1979 to 2015, weather prediction data-t-l=”:b|z|k|$” data-type=”link” href=”https://www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfire/wildfire-climate-connection#:~:text=Research%20shows%20that%20changes%20in,fuels%20during%20the%20fire%20season. “>researchers observed, which resulted in the doubled of forests burned by fire between 1984 and 2015 and the warmer temperatures are predicted to cause more fires.
These fires can impact the quality of air, which affects the health of humans.
The fear of extreme weather has been so significant because climate scientists warn that summer temperatures are getting frequent and more severe that more than two dozen groups have petitioned for the administration in the last year, asking it to make extreme heat an eligibility requirement to receive disaster assistance.
Forecasters are expecting temperatures to cool during the week and by next week, we’ll it will be around 70.
On social media, however many users appeared to take the Tuesday’s warnings seriously and contacting the weather service to learn more about the dangersparticularly for tornadoesand also to contribute to the info by posting their own comments and concerns.
One pet owner was urged to provide the water “for outside animals.”
Another opined that “Too hot for me” with an animated woman who is sweating under the scorching sun.
There was another person who in her personal profile as originally from Howell but who now lives in the South might have laughed: “Just another day here in Alabama.” Someone else responded: “And that’s why we don’t live in Alabama.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or djgain2005@gmail.com.