Abstract Through analying a large number of daily maximum temperature and daily maximum load, separating the temperature sensitive load from the basic load, and finding a parameter, which named load-temperature-gradient to express the relationship of the temperature sensitive load and temperature. Forecasting the load-temperature-gradient by historical data, A new load forecast method, including load-temperature-gradient, is put forward. This method can decrease the error caused in the situation that load increases within short time under extreme weather, which can’t reflect the real power demand situation.