77-year-old weather record broken

UNDATED - The temperature reach 100 in Gainesville Thursday, breaking a record for the date that had stood for 77 years.

The old record was 97 which was set in 1930. The record high for August 8 was tied on Wednesday when it was 99 in Gainesville.

Records highs were also reported in Atlanta and Macon where it was 103 as well as Athens, with a 105 reading. It was 106 in Augusta and 102 in Rome.

More triple digit readings are expected to keep us sweltering today.

Georgia Power says about 200 customers remained without power early this morning after about 5,000 customers in the metro Atlanta lost power earlier as increased demand burned out transformers.

Georgia Power spokeswoman Carol Boatright says 3,5000 of the customers were in the metro south area, around Jonesboro, Fayette County and down toward Newnan.

The next worst hit area was in Cobb County, around Austell and Smyrna.

The utility company urges customers to conserve energy by setting thermostats at 78. Boatright notes every degree higher uses 3 to 5 percent more energy.

She says the average air conditioner can only cool 20 degrees below the outside temperature. She also advises customers not to use irons, dryers and ovens during the extreme heat since those appliances add heat inside the house.

Jackson EMC also reported some outages last night which are blamed on the demand for power. (See separate story.)

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)