The National Weather Service is forecasting 40-50 mph gusts for this area followed by near 0 degree temps Friday night.
Comments
albertnormandy t1_j178euf wrote
You'll know they're expecting outages if you see bucket trucks staged in empty parking lots around the city. Given that there is only rain forecast, I expect they aren't too worried about it.
DefaultSubsAreTerrib t1_j16vngp wrote
Yeah, why not?
Charlesinrichmond t1_j16zjo7 wrote
without precipitation I wouldn't be worried. Ice and we will have problems.
Cold on it's own won't hurt power.
ifweweresharks t1_j18udid wrote
The gusts are likely to cause outages in areas prone to them, however, this isn’t Texas and DE maintains the infrastructure so that it still works in cold temperatures. It would still be in everyone’s best interest to be prepared for an outage just in case, but as another commenter said, if you’re seeing a lot of trucks it means they’re ready to restore power as quickly as they can.
Professional_Book912 t1_j1a2hot wrote
The cold doesn't kill the power, the over use of the heaters draws more than available. Our power grid is very fragile. We could strengthen it, but then it would be harder to charge people.
ifweweresharks t1_j1a411d wrote
My comment about our power still working in cold weather was in reference to Texas’ failure to winterize their infrastructure, resulting in the massive outages in February 2021.
Professional_Book912 t1_j1a4a7j wrote
Ok but you do realize it is not the cold, but the extra strain on the grid? That is what failed. Just like this summer when it was crazy hot in pacific north west.
ifweweresharks t1_j1a6k41 wrote
The extra strain caused by the failure to winterize and ERCOT isolating itself from the rest of the country. DE is part of the PJM interconnect, so they can receive power from other generators, and they maintain their infrastructure.
sirensinger17 t1_j1c65cr wrote
"Getting stabbed by the knife didn't kill him, he died of blood loss"
Professional_Book912 t1_j1a287n wrote
Probably. It is hard to tell, but generally wind is what gets us. The thing that can help us is that the leaves are gone, so it will not have as much drag. They are also providing maximums.
Not sure where you were looking, but you can get all the NWS Wakefield stuff here:
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=37.540455000000065&lon=-77.43702999999994#.Y6SzWXbMKHs
They also have probabilistic maps for snow. https://www.weather.gov/akq/winter
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This storm is going to nail a good portion of the country. For Richmond, we will see cold Peak cold right now is 3-6am saturday, looking at 10 degrees with a wind chill of negative 3. The big issue will be how much water is left on the roads to make black ice saturday morning.
Also, i hope we get all our homeless in a good place.
Charlesinrichmond t1_j1bl1na wrote
You are right about wind of course I should have caveated my answer above that wind will be less of an issue with the leaves off the trees.
In general in the winter it's ice that's more of a big deal since there is so little windage without leaves
Biggest reason why we won't have an issue is I just used my chainsaw and it's working fine. So Murphy is going to be scared off
Professional_Book912 t1_j1es59m wrote
Ha! I left our gas can at a friends an hour away. I picked a new one up to fill the generator. We will not lose power now!
Looks like the wind is settling, most of the gusts should be under 30, however looks like we will see them through tomorrow, just lower to 20. BRRRR
codva t1_j1aqfyx wrote
I got an email from Dominion this afternoon stating they were making preparations to deal with outages by staging crews, etc., along with a review of the ways to report an outage.
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So 100% yes they are expecting outages.
ShuRugal t1_j19m8hv wrote
Always expect outages when there are freezing temperatures, precipitation, and surface level winds in excess of 20mph
Horror-Fisherman-575 t1_j16y2hr wrote
Surely the end is nigh. Human sacrifices. Dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria.