Heat Dome Drives Record Temperatures and Higher Electric Bills

A sprawling heat dome is driving record-high temperatures across the country—and with it, soaring power costs. In Phoenix—home to 1.7 million people and the country’s fifth-largest city—temperatures are expected to reach 113 degrees. By the end of the week, they will top 116 degrees, approaching record highs.The Valley of the Sun isn’t alone, either. An estimated 98 million Americans—mostly across the Southwest, Southern Plains, and Texas—could face major or extreme risks from heat, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's HeatRisk.And while Sept. 1 marks the start of meteorological fall, forecasters say the punishingly hot conditions could stretch through the first week of the month.In hundreds of counties across the South and West, the annual cost of cooling a home has already risen by more than $105 since 2018. Now, another stretch of triple-digit heat is forcing air conditioners to run harder and longer at the same time electricity itself costs more.A 'summer of the century' spills into meteorological fallA heat dome is almost exactly what it sounds like: A large, persistent area of high pressure settles over a region and acts like a lid on the atmosph...