On Saturday, those in the thick of the crowds at the National Mall in Washington were given the order to disperse as a bad storm was bearing down. It was the end of a week where an unrelenting heat wave had already seen its share of cancellations and put a strain on the US power grid. With 185 million people or so under some kind of heat alert, there is little room for error in how the holiday is being run.
Evacuations and delays in Washington
When a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was put out for the District, it meant evacuations for the Great American State Fair and what was going on in the vicinity. You could see signs at the fairgrounds putting the event on ice because of the weather and telling folks to keep an eye on Freedom250’s social media for when things might open back up.
By 7:15 PM, no word from the organisers on a new time. DC Homeland Security was making sure attendees made for the shelter of some federal buildings and museums – the likes of the National Museum of American History, the Natural History and African American History and Culture museums, as well as the Ronald Reagan Building and the Department of Commerce.
This is all on top of the kind of heat that made the fair stand down on Friday, with the mercury at 101 (38 C). The Park Service’s Independence Day Parade was nixed as well, with the risk to public safety cited as the reason.
Freedom 250 has a 9:45 PM ET slot for a speech from President Donald Trump and what they are calling the ‘World’s Largest Fireworks Display’ to follow at 10:30. Both are in jeopardy if the weather does not cooperate.
Power grids under pressure as demand spikes
The heat has left the electricity system with very little margin. PJM, running the biggest grid in the US for 67 million in the Mid-Atlantic, South and D.C., has asked those in its emergency programmes to pull back on their usage.
It is a necessary step, according to officials, with the grid having to deal with downed generators, overtaxed lines and everyone cranking up the air conditioning. Over in New York, Con Ed had about 17,000 without power late Friday and is asking for some conservation in the city and Westchester County.
For now, this is the line from authorities:
– Conserve during the heaviest hours of demand
– Heed any evacuation or shelter orders
– Look to official sources for the latest on events
– Get some water and find some cover if you are outside
Nationwide alerts and record heat
What we are seeing is a high-pressure ‘heat dome’ holding in the hot, muggy air, say the forecasters. The NWS puts more than half the nation under some form of heat alert, with index numbers in some places expected to top 115 F (46 C).
There is a warning that this can be fatal. For anyone out and about for the long weekend, the advice is to watch for any symptoms of heat illness and to get to a cooler spot often. It is a matter of not turning a blind eye to the danger, even for the sake of the holiday.
Take Philadelphia. After it got to 103 on Thursday, a 1901 record, the city did away with its Salute to Independence Parade. These days, the math in many cities comes down to avoiding a medical crisis and not overloading the hospitals.
Holiday plans upended across multiple states
You will find the same story in other parts of the country. The National Park Service in Washington put an end to the parade that was to have begun at 10:30 ET (1430 GMT) on Saturday. Haddon Township in New Jersey has done the same with its annual show.
In upstate New York, Watertown has no concert or fireworks for the 4th. Boston is holding off on letting people in for its riverside display by four hours, with the gates opening at 4 p.m. rather than at midday. Where there would normally be big parades and open-air music to mark 1776, there is now a focus on staying cool and safe.
Scenes from a sweltering New York
New York has had its share of the oddities. Glue has gone soft and soles have been left on the pavement in Manhattan. Still, the sidewalks around Madison Square Garden were full of people in on the chance to see who was in town for the wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
A man on hand to move some SUVs along had a bottle of water in one hand and a towel for his face in the other. It is a case in point for the kind of balance cities are trying to strike this weekend between the occasion and the conditions.
Then you have the added complication of the weather in and around the capital. Warnings for the storms in bits of Virginia like Culpeper and Fauquier have potential to make themselves felt in D.C. from 5 to 7:30 PM. For the people in charge, it is a no-brainer: see to the safety of the public first, and let the good times resume when you can.
