"power plants do annual maintenance in April. That takes thousands of megawatts offline, making it harder for the grid to handle a burst of heat..."
It wasn't particularly hot in Texas in April, but the electricity grid was strained.. "Thanks to crypto mining, data centers, electric vehicles, manufacturing, and more people moving to the state," plus global warming.
#Michigan bound. The boys & I are loading up to head east for the summer. Who would not want this setting if it was an option? Dreading this drive; it does not get easier as I age! And there is no realistic option for not going through at least some of the MagaT bastion of #Texas. And I'll be darned happy when that is over. Glad I'm not pregnant. 🤦♀️
Stand by for sunset photos from the #GreatLakes. 😃 🙃
Lawmakers turned to toll roads to boost the TX economy & address population growth without raising taxes, but the consequences spiraled.
Some state leaders rightly regret the policies & laws that drove the toll road construction boom. “We were sold a bill of goods. We were just looking for how to find money. We now know that this was the wrong way to do it.”
In the US, some people call natural disasters "Acts of God." As they're usually the same ones who don't believe or don't care about the climate crisis, have they been wondering why God is so fucking mad at them these days? #UnitedStates#ClimateEmergency#ActOfGod and a shout-out to #Texas today.
#Texas#AnimalRescue > As a result of severe storms that ravaged parts of #Houston, Houston SPCA had taken in almost 100 displaced or injured wild #animals.
SPCA officials expected the surge of #animal intakes to last for a few days as cleanup efforts continued.
The titular character of Daniel Chacon's new short story collection, The Last Philosopher in Texas: Fictions and Superstitions, came to him as he was walking his dog in Pecos, the windblown West #Texas town where his father once lived. https://www.texasobserver.org/the-chicano-time-traveler/
"In the Fowl River’s case, unusually high tides slowed floodwaters as they went downstream to drain. This increased the water’s depth and flooded a wide expanse — even several miles upstream. The result was deluged roads, washed out cars and damaged houses from a flood that was larger, deeper and longer-lasting due to #RisingSeas."
#Mosquitoes are swarming around Houston. The future could bring even more.
"After flood-inducing rain pummeled much of #Texas over the past few weeks, another sort of inundation is now swamping the Houston region: Mosquitoes. Lots of them. More than many longtime residents can ever remember.
In tests last week, between 50 and 70 mosquitoes a minute were landing on staffers in some spots in Harris County, Vigilant said."