SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — An unseasonably warm first day of spring led to a second straight day of rolling blackouts across the entire length of the state Tuesday in what Californians fear could be a preview of this summer.
The electricity went out in a half-million homes and businesses from San Diego to the Oregon state line. Air conditioners and refrigerators stopped humming, and traffic lights went dark along with computer screens.
Some employees at Ventura Foods in Industry, near Los Angeles, took an early lunch. Others went for flashlights and lanterns.
"This is going to have a serious impact on the state's economy," manager Frank Hynes said. "They can't just keep shutting people down."
The outages began at about 9:30 a.m., lasting up to 90 minutes in any given neighborhood, and continued until 2 p.m.
The keepers of the state's power grid ordered the blackouts after reserves dwindled almost to nothing.
Grid officials blamed reduced electricity imports from the Pacific Northwest, numerous power plants offline for repairs, and unseasonably warm weather. The mercury reached the 80s in Southern California and the 70s in Northern California.
Authorities have warned in recent months that unless the state finds steady sources of energy and conserves electricity, it may see widespread outages when Californians crank up their air conditioners this summer.
Roughly 1 million customers lost power Monday.
The blackouts this week were the first to hit California since January. This time, though, the blackouts hit the entire length of the state. The earlier blackouts affected Northern and Central California.
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