Hurricane Isaias

[weatherwiz]

10 hours ago, ineedsnow said:

I rather no heat in the winter.. you can always put more cloths on

This statement (while I can see how it makes obvious sense) isn't necessarily a correct statement in terms of adjusting to heat vs. cold. It's not as simple a "you can always put more clothes on". Extreme heat and extreme cold are both big killers every year but there are discrepancies as to which is the bigger killer. Some studies suggest that extreme cold kills far more people than extreme heat while other studies suggest the opposite. When it's extremely hot there are things you can easily do to maintain your body temperature or prevent it from rising...drinking water, staying in shade, minimal activity. Wen it's extreme cold just "adding layers" isn't going to be an answer. You're still being exposed to cold and your body temperature is still slowly falling. Humans can still function with body temperatures around 100 (obviously you feel like shit with a fever but you're not doing damage to your organs). But you're body temperature starts getting 3+ below our average temperature that can start to result in some minor issues. 

The "you can always put more clothes on" statement works great for indoors bur in extreme conditions that has zero value. 

[Great Snow 1717]

11 hours ago, ineedsnow said:

I rather no heat in the winter.. you can always put more cloths on

Agree

[Baroclinic Zone]

Unreal how minimal length TS winds can wreak havoc on an ill conceived power grid in that state.

[Damage In Tolland]

We CT

[Baroclinic Zone]

2 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

We CT

#CTWEAKGRID

[tamarack]

10 hours ago, powderfreak said:

I mean I'm only half joking, mostly joking, but I still think it's a consideration given recent history... we keep thinking all the weak trees have been taken out, going back a decade ago, but then another event hits and CT gets crushed with power outages. 

Trees grow and trees decay, resulting in new weaklings being recruited every year.  I'm always looking for damage each late spring/summer when the deciduous trees "unfurl the sails".

I rather no heat in the winter.. you can always put more cloths on

Can't get the plumbing to do the same - split pipes and resulting water damage is a bummer.

[CoastalWx]

3 hours ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

Agree

?? No power in Winter is scary. The only good thing is that food won’t go bad as quick. But you risk frozen pipes and water damage. 

[dendrite]

I’d rather lose power in summer as well. Our water pipes all run in the interior of the basement and up to the first floor so they’re well away from walls. Even when we didn’t heat it down there (when we used the pellet stove upstairs) it never went below 45°. 

[PhineasC]

Even my house on the DE shore in redneck meth central only lost power from this for 4 hours or so. LOL CT.

[Great Snow 1717]

Just now, CoastalWx said:

?? No power in Winter is scary. The only good thing is that good won’t go bad as quick. But you risk frozen pipes and water damage. 

And there are ways to mitigate the risk for frozen pipes. The water can be shut off and the pipes drained.  Old timers would do that and then poor some alcohol(some plumbers recommend using non toxic antifreeze) down the drains and into toilets. Some would use sterno to help keep pipes warm.  In 2018 a friend got through a power outage by using a solar powered generator and some heating tape to prevent pipes from freezing. . And he also used a set of portable solar panels to help keep other devices charged.  He used a few large coolers to preserve much of the food his family had on hand. 

[CoastalWx]

48 minutes ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

And there are ways to mitigate the risk for frozen pipes. The water can be shut off and the pipes drained.  Old timers would do that and then poor some alcohol(some plumbers recommend using non toxic antifreeze) down the drains and into toilets. Some would use sterno to help keep pipes warm.  In 2018 a friend got through a power outage by using a solar powered generator and some heating tape to prevent pipes from freezing. . And he also used a set of portable solar panels to help keep other devices charged.  He used a few large coolers to preserve much of the food his family had on hand. 

It’s just a lot of work in winter. In summer, nothing to worry about except food. I’ll give you that. But as far as risk mitigation, it’s much easier in summer. 

[Great Snow 1717]

20 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

It’s just a lot of work in winter. In summer, nothing to worry about except food. I’ll give you that. But as far as risk mitigation, it’s much easier in summer. 

I'd rather deal with the cold than the heat/humidity.  

[Brian5671]

On 8/9/2020 at 12:08 PM, ice1972 said:

157k still out.....there’s no way they get to the 99% restored by Tuesday Which is what they said a couple days ago......which is Election Day also....Everworst

it's amazing-nothing has changed-basically a redux of their poor response time back in the storms of 2010-2012.   

[CT Rain]

10 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

it's amazing-nothing has changed-basically a redux of their poor response time back in the storms of 2010-2012.   

It's pretty crazy. Maybe they were able to get things on faster this time with some of the smart grid tech they claim makes a difference? Still seemed like nothing changed with pre-staging, communicating with towns, poor tree maintenance, etc. 

[Brian5671]

35 minutes ago, CT Rain said:

It's pretty crazy. Maybe they were able to get things on faster this time with some of the smart grid tech they claim makes a difference? Still seemed like nothing changed with pre-staging, communicating with towns, poor tree maintenance, etc. 

To me it looked like they were reactive vs proactive-out of state crews were not called in until 24-48 hours post storm-I'm sure they'll blame Covid or something but there's no excuse for that-they knew what they were looking at by Tuesday eve.    

[CT Rain]

1 minute ago, Brian5671 said:

To me it looked like they were reactive vs proactive-out of state crews were not called in until 24-48 hours post storm-I'm sure they'll blame Covid or something but there's no excuse for that-they knew what they were looking at by Tuesday eve.    

Yeah they definitely underestimated the storm. I think part of that is the forecast changing - over the weekend it didn't look nearly as bad to me as it did by Monday AM. The other issue is preparing for a reasonable worst case scenario... they were very clear they do not do that because it costs money. So this is a result. 

I also find it very hard to believe that this storm produced 1M peak outages while Hurricane Gloria produced 500k peak outages. Something is fundamentally broken with the power grid in that case. 

[ice1972]

6 minutes ago, CT Rain said:

Yeah they definitely underestimated the storm. I think part of that is the forecast changing - over the weekend it didn't look nearly as bad to me as it did by Monday AM. The other issue is preparing for a reasonable worst case scenario... they were very clear they do not do that because it costs money. So this is a result. 

I also find it very hard to believe that this storm produced 1M peak outages while Hurricane Gloria produced 500k peak outages. Something is fundamentally broken with the power grid in that case. 

The wiki says 727k but I know....its Wiki......it also says there were 92 mph gusts in Hartford.....holy moly.....can't even imagine that especially when 60 mph looked insane

[Brian5671]

7 minutes ago, CT Rain said:

Yeah they definitely underestimated the storm. I think part of that is the forecast changing - over the weekend it didn't look nearly as bad to me as it did by Monday AM. The other issue is preparing for a reasonable worst case scenario... they were very clear they do not do that because it costs money. So this is a result. 

I also find it very hard to believe that this storm produced 1M peak outages while Hurricane Gloria produced 500k peak outages. Something is fundamentally broken with the power grid in that case. 

what's the population difference b/w now and then?  Does that factor in at all?     Otherwise I agree-antiquated equipment or they're not doing proper upkeep.    Imagine if a Cat 3 took that path?   

[CT Rain]

2 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

what's the population difference b/w now and then?  Does that factor in at all?     Otherwise I agree-antiquated equipment or they're not doing proper upkeep.    Imagine if a Cat 3 took that path?   

Not a huge population difference as we have not grown that fast. More trees, fewer line crews, less maintenance, etc. 

[CT Rain]

4 minutes ago, ice1972 said:

The wiki says 727k but I know....its Wiki......it also says there were 92 mph gusts in Hartford.....holy moly.....can't even imagine that especially when 60 mph looked insane

That number includes UI - which was hit very hard being in the remnant eyewall.

And yeah there were some epic inland gusts from Gloria. 

[Brian5671]

1 minute ago, CT Rain said:

Not a huge population difference as we have not grown that fast. More trees, fewer line crews, less maintenance, etc. 

I'd point to maintenance as a culprit-we're UI here, but I see alot of old crappy poles,  trees against lines etc.   

[CT Rain]

3 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

I'd point to maintenance as a culprit-we're UI here, but I see alot of old crappy poles,  trees against lines etc.   

When you look at pictures from 1938 and the storms in the 50s and Donna it's amazing how few trees there are compared to now. We've let trees grow unchecked through our electrical grid. There's a price for that.

The complete shut down in the tropics for us from 1991-2011 didn't help either as we grew accustomed to few wind storms. 

[CT Rain]

2 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

It’s just wholly unacceptable on every level. For the amount of money we pay, and the amount ES was trying to force us to pay with that outrageous rate hike, they should have had no problem preparing for a reasonable worst case. As Ryan mentioned, the forecast did become more ominous between the weekend and Monday, but anyone tracking this thing knew this wasn’t going to be another Fay. 

For a utility to be this unprepared for a moderate to strong TS is egregiously bad and the response once their feet were put to the fire was just as poor. 

The underforecast resulted in probably 1-2 lost days of restoration. 

The years of neglect to the grid is probably a bigger issue in the grand scheme of things. 

[Brian5671]

19 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

It’s just wholly unacceptable on every level. For the amount of money we pay, and the amount ES was trying to force us to pay with that outrageous rate hike, they should have had no problem preparing for a reasonable worst case. As Ryan mentioned, the forecast did become more ominous between the weekend and Monday, but anyone tracking this thing knew this wasn’t going to be another Fay. 

For a utility to be this unprepared for a moderate to strong TS is egregiously bad and the response once their feet were put to the fire was just as poor. 

hopefully something changes of out of it and once the lights come back on people don't forget.    Butler lost his CEO job after the 2011 disaster but there were no fines or lawsuits.   There's zero excuse this go around-they should pay a penalty for sure.    Inexcusable response.   UI was only slightly better.   

[ice1972]

12 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

hopefully something changes of out of it and once the lights come back on people don't forget.    Butler lost his CEO job after the 2011 disaster but there were no fines or lawsuits.   There's zero excuse this go around-they should pay a penalty for sure.    Inexcusable response.   UI was only slightly better.   

I had a feeling early on that we were headed down Oct 2011 path again and I remember thinking how is that even possible after that, after Irene, after Sandy.......how could they be so bad at restoration.........short of cutting everybodys trees down they need to be prestaging better and communicating better with town officials.....have more crews ready to go...and figure out a way to identify the source of outages quicker rather than visual inspection and reading 75 year old maps......i hope people don't forget too soon......before something is done about it....they're so bad at this

[metagraphica]

Power restored at 12:22pm today.  5 days 20 hours.  I feel bad for the people who still don't have power.  Last night sleeping was a bit sticky to say the least.

[powderfreak]

10 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

It’s just a lot of work in winter. In summer, nothing to worry about except food. I’ll give you that. But as far as risk mitigation, it’s much easier in summer. 

Yeah, no thanks on no power in the winter.  Especially since it's like pitch black out at 5pm.  Don't under-estimate a few extra hours of daylight in the evening during a summer outage.

But for sure as far as pipes freezing and such... I mean we don't use AC that much but I'd rather be uncomfortably sweaty if it came to that over pipes freezing.  Seeing your breath inside (when it's actually light enough to do so) and wearing jackets, hats and gloves doesn't sound all that appealing either.

[powderfreak]

6 hours ago, CT Rain said:

When you look at pictures from 1938 and the storms in the 50s and Donna it's amazing how few trees there are compared to now. We've let trees grow unchecked through our electrical grid. There's a price for that.

The complete shut down in the tropics for us from 1991-2011 didn't help either as we grew accustomed to few wind storms. 

Would it ever factor into your forecast wording or how serious your "storm prep" message is to viewers/public?  The ease at which certain events that don't appear all that damaging elsewhere, might lead to bigger issues with the CT grid? 

I won't lie, whenever I go to the NE corner and adjacent areas, even the main state highways have very tall trees growing right on lines/roadway at a rate you don't see in VT or eastern NY.  Can't really say for Mass, but CT just has a very dense tall forest overhead vibe that's aesthetically pleasing on windy country two-lane highways.  It's easy to imagine how tree damage can lead to big issues when those tree crowns are over the powerlines everywhere.

[Ginx snewx]

6 hours ago, CT Rain said:

The underforecast resulted in probably 1-2 lost days of restoration. 

The years of neglect to the grid is probably a bigger issue in the grand scheme of things. 

This old man has been screaming at the cloud since 2011 but no one has listened.  We tried to tell them 

[Hoth]

29 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

This old man has been screaming at the cloud since 2011 but no one has listened.  We tried to tell them