KXAN
by: Abigail Jones
Posted:
AUSTIN (KXAN) — City of Austin and Travis County leaders on Wednesday morning will discuss heat preparedness and safety tips as temperatures are forecasted to continue climbing above 100° for the next seven days.
City and county leaders will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. on heat preparedness and safety due to the extreme heat conditions Central Texas is under. The conference will be livestreamed in the video player at the top of this page and on the KXAN Facebook page.
An Excessive Heat Warning remains in effect through 9 p.m. Wednesday for heat index values up to 118°. For two consecutive days, Camp Mabry’s heat index peaked at 116°. This ties the unofficial heat index record set in August 2016, according to the First Warning Weather team, and we’re on track to do it again Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, asked customers to voluntarily conserve energy from 4 to 8 p.m. due to extreme heat and forecasted record demand.
On Monday, ERCOT broke the June peak demand record, unofficially, with 79,304 MW, passing last June’s record of 76,718 MW. ERCOT said Texas set 11 new peak demand records last summer. The current all-time record of 80,148 MW was set last year on July 20, 2022.
Last week, ERCOT issued a weather watch for June 15-21. A weather watch notification is distributed three to five days out of forecasted weather that could impact the grid and create high demand.