Maryn McKenna and Matt Simon team up on this story for Wired Magazine. Thus far the stability of a sometimes-strained U.S. power grid has saved most of the population during extreme heat events but some emergency planners are scrambling to prepare for the unthinkable and adopt a heat action plan that can adapt to an uncertain future and an overburdened power grid. Emergency planners are coming to grips what it would mean to have a grid failure during extreme heat. Grid operators voice confidence with operations and the business of keeping the AC on as long as there is no physical damage. But energy infrastructure damage — say from wildfire, extreme storms, floods and the like, could shut things down for multiple days.

Source: New York Times June 29, 2023 09:54 UTC