sure. wait. what?

1.

My friends and I were watching a string quartet concert when we received the emergency alert on our phones: residents all over the province are strongly encouraged to limit their electricity usage to “essential needs only.” Turn off unnecessary lights. Cook using the microwave instead of the stove. Minimize the use of space heaters and, if possible, delay charging electric vehicles.

“This feels like the beginning of dystopian film,” K said on the drive home.

“How so?” I asked.

“The grid is barely holding on. What if the power shuts off altogether? Are people gonna die?”

“Maybe,” I said, low-key dismissively because I was laser-focused on making sure the car does not skid and slide off the icy road. “I can ask my friend who works on the grid to see how serious this is. Knowledge is bliss.”

“Ya, maybe.”

2.

This winter has been strange. No snow in December, extreme cold in January — it’s like we’re living ten years before Interstellar. In a decade, dust will cover the entire planet. Crops won’t grow as they used to, and farmlands will dry out. Earth will start dying, and the only way to save humanity is to move mankind to a different galaxy.

Damn. I guess K had a point.

3.

The temperature in the city has been below -30C since Thursday. It’s even lower over where my parents live — they were at -46C the other day with a windchill of -58C. Crazy!

Cold air from the Arctic is currently swirling just above Western Canada causing these record low temperatures. To stay warm, people amp up their space heaters and plug in their block heaters, among other things. These drive up electricity consumption, which reached a record high just a few hours ago. The province blasted the emergency alert to everyone’s phones shortly after. Everyone should ease up on their power usage, or else things will go ugly.

4.

If the grid fails, the province’s last resort is to do rotating power outages in different areas of the province. In short, brownout.

Brownout is the last thing you want to happen in the winter. No power means no heat, and no heat means — well, nothing good. The rotating outages will happen in 30-minute periods, just long enough to control the consumption to a reasonable rate. Still, 30 minutes of no heat and power mean differently for different people. These brownouts must be prevented at all costs.

5.

I’ve been looking at real-time electricity data these last couple of hours, and the numbers are getting better. The emergency alert worked. News outlets are now saying that there is a very low chance of power outages tonight. The grid alert is over, although the province is still expecting another peak in demand tomorrow evening as the polar vortex continues.

Phew.