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Best power cuts from storms?


SortingHat

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Posted
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
  • Location: Marion County Oregon

Some of your winds during your storms are insane like mini Hanukkah Eve events where here in the PNW winds around 50mph tend to cause power outages.   Anything above 55mph you get outages light up like a christmas tree in the tens of thousands though PGE and especially Pacific Power are very prompt at restoration and we haven't ever under Pacfic had anything more then 3 hours out which was our longest one yet. Most are just an hour or two no biggie like a power nap.

If we had underground lines and a substation flooded or had a major fire I shudder to think the results as it won't be a simple matter of finding the spot and ordering parts where it's needed as this would require a lot of digging.etc even though not as many would lose it those who do would lose it longer then just a 'few hours'.

 

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield
  • Weather Preferences: Sunny and dry, thunderstorms, mild temps (13-22°C).
  • Location: Sheffield

Very rare to get powercuts in any of the places I've lived in England because most of the cabling is underground. I only remember a powercut from a blizzard in Staffordshire in December 1990 but that's it really!

Edited by Thundershine
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Posted
  • Location: Basingstoke
  • Weather Preferences: In summer, a decent thunderstorm, and hot weather. In winter, snow or gale
  • Location: Basingstoke

Back in the 80s and early 90s we almost always got a power cut from thunderstorms but this hasn't happened once since.  

The 1987 and 1990 wind storms left us with power cuts but it was restored the same day.  During ciara in February we had an outage for 1h which was surprising because power cuts due to severe weather seem to be a thing of the past

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.

If you count the 1995 Xmas Eve blizzard as a storm, we had no power for the following three days; and, with nighttime temps down to between -18 and -25C, our cutlery was all frozen together, and the inside walls were frosty!

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
11 minutes ago, Paul_1978 said:

“Best power cuts”? 

Aye, Paul... the best power cut I ever experienced, was the one that lasted for less than one minute!

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Posted
  • Location: St rads Dover
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, T Storms.
  • Location: St rads Dover

I had one a couple of years ago now,it was during a storm but wasn't caused by the wind. There was a trench dug for a house foundation just round the corner, the heavy rain caused a small landslide into it. It got on of those black connection boxes which then was not repaired for about a week and a half. There were three generators running by the sub station which was running three streets power.

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Posted
  • Location: Cheshire
  • Location: Cheshire
On 11/10/2020 at 17:04, SummerShower said:

Back in the 80s and early 90s we almost always got a power cut from thunderstorms but this hasn't happened once since.  

The 1987 and 1990 wind storms left us with power cuts but it was restored the same day.  During ciara in February we had an outage for 1h which was surprising because power cuts due to severe weather seem to be a thing of the past

Agreed on the Oct 1987 and Jan 1990 gales. Also add Christmas Eve 1997 which resulted in misery for many on Christmas Day in the North West of England. Winter of 1962/3 - regular as sin. And who of a certain age can forget the power cuts of 1972, although these were planned and caused by industrial action rather than storms.

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Posted
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset
  • Weather Preferences: Continental winters & summers.
  • Location: Cleeve, North Somerset

Don’t think I’ve ever experienced a power cut caused by wind, but there have been a few short or light flickers during potent thunderstorms. 

One I remember clearly was on the 1st October 2006. Lightning and shotgun thunder directly overhead so loud that multiple car alarms went off... that caused a 60 second cut. Classic positive strike.

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Posted
  • Location: Near King's Lynn 13.68m ASL
  • Weather Preferences: Hoar Frost, Snow, Misty Autumn mornings
  • Location: Near King's Lynn 13.68m ASL
3 hours ago, Paul_1978 said:

“Best power cuts”? 

Quite. Best one I ever had was when the rest of the family were watching X-Factor.

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Posted
  • Location: St rads Dover
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, T Storms.
  • Location: St rads Dover
22 minutes ago, Yarmy said:

Quite. Best one I ever had was when the rest of the family were watching X-Factor.

I assumed he meant biggest, therefore worst, rather than best, and went with that.

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Posted
  • Location: Carmarthenshire
  • Location: Carmarthenshire

This made me think - here in SW Wales most of the power network is on overhead cables rather than overground and considering the strength of the winds we get in this area it is remarkably robust.  Most of our power cuts haven't been weather related though we used to get them more frequently in cold weather.  

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Posted
  • Location: Bempton, Bridlington, East Riding. 78m ASL
  • Location: Bempton, Bridlington, East Riding. 78m ASL

Where we used to live there would be at least one long power cut every winter, We were the last but one house on a 3.3kV overhead feed, so thunderstorms, gales and snow would all lead to power cuts. After a bad snowstorm in Dec 1990 power was off for a week, also had a power cut Xmas day in the early 2000's cant remember the year. We have a small diesel genny which is enough to keep everything running, only problem with it is Mrs cant start it, so if power went off during the day and I was at work I would get a 'come home and start the genny' phone call.

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Posted
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
On 13/11/2020 at 13:04, virtualsphere said:

This made me think - here in SW Wales most of the power network is on overhead cables rather than overground and considering the strength of the winds we get in this area it is remarkably robust.  Most of our power cuts haven't been weather related though we used to get them more frequently in cold weather.  

I'm surprised. The winds you get there would cause power outages by the tends of thousands here in the PNW sometimes hundreds if winds are around 50mph though lately they are able to cut the numbers back pretty quickly within the first half hour of the storm and only rural properties remain without power thru the night or next day if the storm is at night.  We've in Aumsville never had more then a 3 hour cut storm related. They are pretty quick to get things up here despite our town being small on the map. The news tries to make it sound like our grid is from Africa or some 3rd world country but it's not an issue here!

Edited by SortingHat
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Posted
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
On 13/11/2020 at 13:04, virtualsphere said:

This made me think - here in SW Wales most of the power network is on overhead cables rather than overground and considering the strength of the winds we get in this area it is remarkably robust.  Most of our power cuts haven't been weather related though we used to get them more frequently in cold weather.  

Why would cold do it? You don't get as cold as here in Oregon! Wales rarely goes much below 0C.

Edited by SortingHat
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Posted
  • Location: St rads Dover
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, T Storms.
  • Location: St rads Dover
1 hour ago, SortingHat said:

Why would cold do it? You don't get as cold as here in Oregon! Wales rarely goes much below 0C.

Wait of snow or ice on the power line mostly. Although sometimes it's purely down to supply.

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Posted
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
  • Location: Marion County Oregon
1 minute ago, alexisj9 said:

Wait of snow or ice on the power line mostly. Although sometimes it's purely down to supply.

What was your worst scenarios of such a thing? There's a site here and he never has trouble with his power no matter how windy it is. What do you think is so different between him and you?

WWW.LLANSADWRN-WX.INFO

Llansadwrn weather diary 1998 - 2020

 

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Posted
  • Location: St rads Dover
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, T Storms.
  • Location: St rads Dover
12 minutes ago, SortingHat said:

What was your worst scenarios of such a thing? There's a site here and he never has trouble with his power no matter how windy it is. What do you think is so different between him and you?

WWW.LLANSADWRN-WX.INFO

Llansadwrn weather diary 1998 - 2020

 

I had a power cut that lasted two days, until generators were put in, to run the electric , until it was fixed. It did happen during a storm, but was a small landslide that took out a connection box.

Edited by alexisj9
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Posted
  • Location: Condorrat, Cumbernauld G67
  • Location: Condorrat, Cumbernauld G67

I think power cuts and a storm memorable one for me would be May 2004. Imagine it was a lovely day barely a cloud in the sky (this was at about 3pm) about a hour later we had a almighty storm and I do distinctly remember the power getting completely cut say think was for about half an hour or so that was a viscious wee monster that one

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Posted
  • Location: Carmarthenshire
  • Location: Carmarthenshire
On 19/11/2020 at 21:44, SortingHat said:

I'm surprised. The winds you get there would cause power outages by the tends of thousands here in the PNW sometimes hundreds if winds are around 50mph though lately they are able to cut the numbers back pretty quickly within the first half hour of the storm and only rural properties remain without power thru the night or next day if the storm is at night.  We've in Aumsville never had more then a 3 hour cut storm related. They are pretty quick to get things up here despite our town being small on the map. The news tries to make it sound like our grid is from Africa or some 3rd world country but it's not an issue here!

Here's a pic of the power network in our area taken in a nearby village in Jan 2013, which is also when we last had any meaningful settling snow.  

873182870_powerlines.thumb.PNG.b28c76a384fc9585f12e9cfa42f6f8c6.PNG

Any outages are usually minor and are repaired within an hour.  The last few I remember didn't coincide with severe weather.  Wind gusts of 40mph are fairly frequent, 50+ are rarer but it does happen.  Our chimney blew down in Jan 2014 but the power remained on!  

On 19/11/2020 at 21:46, SortingHat said:

Why would cold do it? You don't get as cold as here in Oregon! Wales rarely goes much below 0C.

Not sure, but it does seem better recently.  I'm thinking of intermittent very short power outages which were fairly common in icy weather around 12 or more years ago.  Looking back more recently we didn't experience any in the cold winters of 2010 and 2013 so I'm assuming it might simply be some rogue equipment which has since been fixed.

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Posted
  • Location: Efford, Plymouth
  • Weather Preferences: Misty Autumn Mornings, Thunderstorms and snow
  • Location: Efford, Plymouth

Not really had many in my lifetime, I remember as kid some power cuts from heavy thunderstorms around Summer 1981/1982.

However my best, was thanks in part to a massive storm/tornado on Zante in September 2016. Came at the end of a major heatwave - temps into the mid 30s. Sunday night, storms came in from NW, and Alykes and Alykanas had a mini twister which took out roofs, trees and the electric sub station! No electric that day- but we survived on bottled beer! 

Just to add- an earthquake also hit that night at 4.7 strong. Remember ringing home- "Hows things? Oh fine, tornado, thunderstorm and earthquake last night"  

 

post-image-150x150.jpg
WWW.TRIPADVISOR.CO.UK

Answer 1 of 11: The Alykanas/Alykes area was hit by a storm overnight which caused extensive damage to properties when...

 

Edited by philglossop
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