The Pacific Northwest is currently experiencing a record-breaking heatwave that has shut down much of daily life for residents. In Salem, Oregon’s state capitol, temperatures reached 117 degrees, the hottest since record-keeping began in the 1890s. Seattle set an all-time high temperature of 106 degrees. Portland saw an extreme high of 115, breaking the previous high of 112 (which had happened just the day before). Another heatwave hit the western part of the United States in mid-June, with cities like Salt Lake City, Tucson, and Arizona all seeing record-breaking highs. 

Extreme heatwaves often bring power outages. The heatwave itself doesn’t cause the power outage. Instead, the high temperatures cause people to increase the use of their air-conditioning. This increased use requires a greater amount of electricity and creates a strain on the transmission lines. In hot weather, the power grid and transmission lines can see a large increase in demand for electricity. This high demand can force lines to potentially short circuit. If this happens enough then a power outage will take place because there are not enough transmission lines to carry the heavy load.

A power outage will cause refrigerators and freezers to no longer work. Food being preserved in these appliances will start to go bad and the hot weather will only increase the quickness of the spoilage. This is why shelf-stable food storage that doesn’t require refrigeration is so important. Freeze-dried food preserved in a freeze dryer from Harvest Right requires no refrigeration and no power to keep it preserved. There is no better food than freeze-dried food to have in your food storage. Visit harvestright.com right now to learn more about freeze-dried food and how you can make an amazing food storage at home that will last, no matter the temperature.