Hot enough for you?

First, Next Media Animation for the global perspective.

The US is going through a prolonged heatwave that has blanketed the eastern half of the country. Although the heatwave hit the South and Mid-west the hardest, the hot weather is moving towards the East Coast in the coming days.

As people in the affected areas turn on their air conditioners, the nation's power grid is coming under strain. This summer is a hot one not just for the US, but also in other corners of the globe.

Beijing recently hit 105F, nearing records. A Stanford study says heatwaves could become common in the US in the next 30 years due to global warming.

But more and more Americans are becoming skeptical.

Now the local one from WXYZ-TV.




Today's forecast

Any local newscast will find human interest stories for an event like this. The first is at least relevant to this blog, as it could be considered a biodiversity story--keeping animals cool at the zoo.




Zookeepers try to help the animals beat the heat at the Detroit Zoo.

But what about the people?




Action News finds the coldest place in Detroit during this heat wave.

Yeah, one could expect a story like this in any heat wave.

It's not all human interest stories. Remember the first video pointing out that this heat wave was straining the power grid? The electricity went out last night in Ferndale.




Equipment problems are causing power problems in Ferndale.

This caused me some inconvenience, as I drove through the town expecting to get some take-out for my wife. I ended up driving to Troy instead. Neither my car nor the planet needed the extra miles on my car.

On top of all that, the heat wave coincided with austerity news and not in a good way.




Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano says they may have to close Detroit's only waterpark to balance the budget.

The timing really couldn't be worse.

Finally everyone, stay cool!