If you walked outside yesterday, you might have noticed that it warmed up a bit. Actually, the heat was almost unbearable and it turns out Dallas broke the 94-degree record for April 17 by 7 degrees. This is the seventh day this year that we’ve broken records in Dallas and it’s looking like it’s going to be a rough summer for weather.

Unfortunately, Texas wasn’t exactly prepared for the heat, despite weather warnings. Although summer temperatures always roll into the hundreds, it’s evidently not expected in April, and Dallas, Austin and Houston residents suffered the consequences with rolling blackouts.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc., which operates the state’s electricity grid, had to order utility companies to cut off power in Texas neighborhoods on a rolling basis. Unfortunately, ERCOT has many of its power generators shut down for maintenance.

It might have the word “reliability” in its title, but Texans couldn’t count on ERCOT yesterday. Why would it shut down power generators in April if Dallas temperatures already reached the 80s in January? Shouldn’t they have decided to do this a little earlier in the year? Forecasters have been expecting temperatures to exceed the norm, so ERCOT should have been paying attention. Residents shouldn’t be inconvenienced, even if it’s only for a short amount of time, for ERCOT’s failure to be prepared.

At Ed Board, we love the weather. We like to watch it, maybe plan out what we’ll wear the next day – perhaps even see if we’ll need an umbrella on our way to class. And we’re just responsible for ourselves – not an entire state.

If ERCOT is in the business of operating one of the largest state’s electricity grids, shouldn’t it turn on the TV and tune into Troy or maybe watch a little Al with its morning coffee. What’s the deal with government agencies not paying attention to the weather? We assume that ERCOT wore snow-suits to work today because clearly they missed that whole hot-weather memo-

So, ERCOT, listen up. It’s going to be a HOT summer. Very, very HOT. Plan ahead. We don’t want to go without that air-conditioning we love so much, or get stuck in traffic because traffic lights are out, even if it’s for a measly 15 minutes. Try to do maintenance earlier in the spring, or after it cools off a bit in the fall. And live up to your name by avoiding an emergency before it happens. Give Texas something we can really rely on next time.