Heat Wave

Record temperatures on Monday caused a run on energy, but officials said blackouts and heat-related injuries were kept to a minimum. At 4 p.m. Monday, demand for electricity in Glendale reached 343 megawatts — an all-time high that broke a record of 336 megawatts set in the summer of 2007, said Glendale Water & Power Assistant General Manager Ramon Abueg. The demand on a normal summer day, he said, peaks at about 270 megawatts. Burbank also broke new ground Monday, with peak demand of 321 megawatts at 4 p.m. The previous record was 309 megawatts, said Burbank Water & Power Assistant General Manager Jorge Somoano.

Sprinkler used as hanger floods hotel The fourth floor of the Hilton Glendale was flooded with water Thursday evening after a guest activated a sprinkler by hanging clothes from it, fire officials said. The flooding occurred at 5:02 p.m. Thursday in the Glenoaks Boulevard hotel?s fourth floor when the guest hung clothes from the sprinkler head and triggered the water showers, Glendale Fire Capt. Vincent Rifino said. Fire crews removed the water from the floor and lobby gift shop, which sustained an undisclosed amount of damage, he said.

Flags to be lowered for war memorial All U.S. flags on city buildings and property will be flown at half-staff Monday in honor of National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day. The memorial day was established in honor of the armistice agreement signed on July 27, 1953, putting a halt to the three-year war between North and South Korea. About 1.8 million members of the U.S. Armed Forces fought against North Korea. During that time, about 34,000 Americans died in combat, 92,000 were wounded and more than 8,000 were listed as missing in action or taken prisoner, according to the White House.

As much as I appreciate living in the Crescenta Valley, one of my biggest reasons for moving away (I’m sure more than a few readers would help pack my bags after last week’s column) would be to live in a cooler, more seasonal climate. I mean, imagine knowing what season we’re in simply by stepping outside instead of having to check the calendar or see how the models are dressed on the cover of the most recent Eddie Bauer catalog. Nevertheless, according to the mavens of millibars over at the Weather Channel, we are indeed officially in the fall season.

Glendale residents waited and waited, but they never felt the severe heat that the National Weather Service warned about this week. A heat-wave advisory issued by the weather service for California mountain ranges, where record-high temperatures and low humidity have been reported, was set to conclude by Thursday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. There is a heat wave — just not in Glendale, said Stuart Seto, weather specialist at the Los Angeles Forecast Office.

After nearly a week of near-record breaking heat, some local foothill folks sweltering through the three-day Labor Day weekend were wishing they were working in an air-conditioned facility. Attendance was down at local outdoor events over the weekend, including Descanso Gardens? annual event, Boddy?s Big Backyard Barbecue. ?They normally have at least a thousand people at these events, but it?s usually not this hot,? said Bill Spring, a Silverlake resident who spent Labor Day at Descanso Gardens with his wife, Jennifer Castle and their 2 ½-year-old daughter, Sadie Spring.

GLENDALE — A searing heat wave eased up on Tuesday, with even cooler weather expected Wednesday, meteorologists said. Temperatures across Glendale and Burbank dipped about 8 to 11 degrees yesterday — after six consecutive days in the triple digits — and are expected to drop another 5 to 7 degrees, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist for the Los Angeles/Oxnard branch of the National Weather Forecast Office. “We’re looking for it to be pretty much back to normal,” he said.

GLENDALE — A heat wave creeping into the Southland boosted Glendale’s temperature into triple digits Thursday after tying a record high Wednesday, and meteorologists say there is little sign of cooling until the middle of next week. A high-pressure system hovering over Arizona is heading north and cooking Southern California, prompting state health officials and local utilities to issue heat advisories this week as triple-digit temperatures blanket the area. “This large area of high pressure, which is pretty typical in the summertime, doesn’t like to move very quickly, so we’re looking at a heat wave that started [Wednesday]

The prediction of this being the hottest summer on record has fallen short as of the second week of August. “Sometimes Mother Nature leads you to the precipice but doesn’t push you over,” said Bill Patzert, climatologist and oceanographer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. According to weather specialist Stuart Seto, National Weather Service, June was close to normal in temperature, July was slightly above normal and the first week of August appears to be slightly below normal.