BURRILLVILLE – The Burrillville Emergency Management Agency is letting residents know that there will be space open to escape the heat as a wave of dangerously warm weather hits northern Rhode Island.
The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the northern half of the state beginning at noon on Tuesday, June 18 through 7 p.m. on Friday, June 21. The agency noted potential for record-breaking heat throughout the week, with temperatures into the 90s over the next four days. NWS defines a heat wave as three or more consecutive days when the temperature reaches 90 or higher.
Burrillville EMA Director Michael Gingell noted that Jesse Smith Memorial Library at 100 Tinkham Lane is Harrisville will serve as a cooling center, where locals can take refuge during the hottest daytime hours. The library will serve as a cooling station on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The library is closed on Wednesday, June 19 for the Juneteenth holiday, but the town will open the Binns building at 111 Chapel St. to serve as a cooling center for the day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
NWS warned of potential health hazards from the weather.
“Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses,” the weather service said. “Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.”
Concern for the reliability of the power grid, such as that raised by vintel&7, can be addressed daily by checking the website of our New England wide power grid opertator, ISO New England at https://www.iso-ne.com. You get a real-time data in an easy to read display showing forecasted power demand for the day, power available for the day, and a graph showing the up-to-the-minute power demand versus available power. You also get a breakdown of the various power sources operating—gas fired, nuclear, solar, wind, etc. And you get a graph of yesterday’s performance: forecasted demand & supply vs actual demand and supply provided. For this heatwave, we are doing just fine.
What is the power grid crashes from so many people using AC? Did the town think of that? Are the town’s cooling centers off grid and powered by solar or wind? If the power grid crashes in this extreme heat, thousands will perish.