Extreme storms hit much of the United States at the weekend, leaving more than 350,000 Americans without power. According to poweroutage.us, as of Monday morning over 30,000 residents remained without power in my adopted hometown of Portland, Oregon. To add insult to injury, we were hit with disinformation about when and how we could expect power to be fully restored.
To deal with the crisis, our county, Multnomah, declared a state of emergency and opened shelters, but at least two people appear to have died of hypothermia. During the storm, which initially left 15% of Portland without power during sub-zero temperatures, a massive fir tree broke near the base of its trunk across the street from where I live, causing damage to a local business.
Portland, which is known for its generally cool, rainy, mild climate, rarely sees temperatures this low. Oddly enough, it was while the snowstorm raged outside my windows that I first read the news that 2023 has been officially confirmed the hottest year on record (and fifth hottest in the US). Of course, as climate change raises the global average temperature, we are going to continue seeing more extreme and catastrophic weather events of all kinds.
