Winter nor'easter sweeping into Northeast

KevinKohler · Feb 9, 2013

Well, I have had a thoroughly horrible day. Had to climb out of a window, and shovel out my porch. Then it creating a path through snow up to my nuts to the driveway. Then I got to work. My car was a white hump, totally burried. I have pics, but don't know to put them up on the phone...and frankly, I lack the energy to go upstares and fire up the puter.

Kevin....out.

tech30528 · Feb 9, 2013

ChrisL said:
I didn't have to do that thankfully.

What makes you think I would know?

Sorry, that part was not directed at you personally.

Helix · Feb 9, 2013

someone on FB posted this time lapse :

Facebook

very cool. hope that it is viewable for the general public.

Helix · Feb 9, 2013

more time lapse videos :

Northeast Blizzard: Five Great Time-Lapse Videos | TIME.com

ChrisL · Feb 9, 2013

tech30528 said:
Sorry, that part was not directed at you personally.

It seemed a little snarky.

ChrisL · Feb 9, 2013

KevinKohler said:
Well, I have had a thoroughly horrible day. Had to climb out of a window, and shovel out my porch. Then it creating a path through snow up to my nuts to the driveway. Then I got to work. My car was a white hump, totally burried. I have pics, but don't know to put them up on the phone...and frankly, I lack the energy to go upstares and fire up the puter.

Kevin....out.

Did you lose power, and if so for how long? Just out of curiosity. I lost electricity last night at around 9 or 10 p.m. and got it back today at around 2 p.m.

ChrisL · Feb 9, 2013

Helix said:
more time lapse videos :

Northeast Blizzard: Five Great Time-Lapse Videos | TIME.com

Yup, a lot of those look like my yard.

ChrisL · Feb 9, 2013

I'm scared of losing my power again. I keep getting flickering. I've cranked up my heat just in case.

You know sleeping isn't the problem, it's getting out of bed in the cold that really sucks. I walked around with two sweatshirts and a blanket on this morning. Lol! I kind of wished I had a Snuggie.

sangha · Feb 10, 2013

For the first time since I moved to the country, a major storm did *not* knockout my power!!!!!!!

It's not too bad here. The deepest drifts are just above my knee, and the roads are already completely cleared, including my own which is a bit remote.

ChrisL · Feb 10, 2013

sangha said:
For the first time since I moved to the country, a major storm did *not* knockout my power!!!!!!!

It's not too bad here. The deepest drifts are just above my knee, and the roads are already completely cleared, including my own which is a bit remote.

Our roads here are terrible still. The deepest drifts here are almost as tall as me! We have some drifts that are like 5 feet here in my area. It SUCKS! I'm stuck at home unless I want to get all bundled up and walk somewhere.

sangha · Feb 10, 2013

ChrisL said:
Our roads here are terrible still. The deepest drifts here are almost as tall as me! We have some drifts that are like 5 feet here in my area. It SUCKS! I'm stuck at home unless I want to get all bundled up and walk somewhere.

Around me, they do an incredible job on the roads. They pre-condition the roads with some sort of liquid de-icer, and the plows come by regularly.

Around here, power (every time the wind blows, a tree knocks out a power line) is problem #1, with flooding (I live on the banks of the Hudson River) being #2

ChrisL · Feb 10, 2013

sangha said:
Around me, they do an incredible job on the roads. They pre-condition the roads with some sort of liquid de-icer, and the plows come by regularly.

Around here, power (every time the wind blows, a tree knocks out a power line) is problem #1, with flooding (I live on the banks of the Hudson River) being #2

I used to live in a town where they had their own non-profit power company, and we hardly never lost power, and if we did it was quickly turned back on because it was such a small area. Now, I live in another city and I have National Grid. Not to knock them, but I think they have too large of a region to cover. They are INCREDIBLY slow. I have to give them credit this time though. During the hurricane, I had no power for 3 days. This time, it was only like 12 hours or so. So YAY National Grid . . . this time. :lol:

sangha · Feb 10, 2013

ChrisL said:
I used to live in a town where they had their own non-profit power company, and we hardly never lost power, and if we did it was quickly turned back on because it was such a small area. Now, I live in another city and I have National Grid. Not to knock them, but I think they have too large of a region to cover. They are INCREDIBLY slow. I have to give them credit this time though. During the hurricane, I had no power for 3 days. This time, it was only like 12 hours or so. So YAY National Grid . . . this time. :lol:

I llive on a road where a small number of families live, so we're a low priority when the power goes. The last two times, I was without power (from the elec co) for a week. Fortunately, my neighbor lets me plug my fridge, an electric heater for the BR, and a lamp into his generator, so I can sleep, eat and read.

It's the cold water showers that get me.

Last time, I didn't shave for a week, and got some compliments on the facial hair, so I continued to let it grow. At least, until my niece said I was beginning to look like Abe Lincoln.

ChrisL · Feb 10, 2013

sangha said:
I llive on a road where a small number of families live, so we're a low priority when the power goes. The last two times, I was without power (from the elec co) for a week. Fortunately, my neighbor lets me plug my fridge, an electric heater for the BR, and a lamp into his generator, so I can sleep, eat and read.

It's the cold water showers that get me.

They always seem to tackle the problems within the major part of the city first. I guess that's because that is where the most businesses are located. That's cool that you have a neighbor that will let you do that. Unfortunately, I live in a townhouse with multiple units, and all of my neighbors were in the same boat as me.

It was funny when the power came back on, you could actually hear people cheering. :lol:

sangha · Feb 10, 2013

ChrisL said:
They always seem to tackle the problems within the major part of the city first. I guess that's because that is where the most businesses are located. That's cool that you have a neighbor that will let you do that. Unfortunately, I live in a townhouse with multiple units, and all of my neighbors were in the same boat as me.

It was funny when the power came back on, you could actually hear people cheering. :lol:

Yes, it's where the businesses are but it's also where the major trunks are (I think) and also where the major roads tend to be, which get plowed first, making access to the power lines easier.

But where I am, there are no "major" business areas or crowded areas. At it's densest (in town), it's suburban. Where I am, it's close to rural. It's a short drive to cow country

ChrisL · Feb 10, 2013

sangha said:
Yes, it's where the businesses are but it's also where the major trunks are (I think) and also where the major roads tend to be, which get plowed first, making access to the power lines easier.

But where I am, there are no "major" business areas or crowded areas. At it's densest (in town), it's suburban. Where I am, it's close to rural. It's a short drive to cow country

That makes sense. It still sucks to know that you are the last priority though. You really take your electricity for granted until you lose it. I was thinking today about how spoiled I am. :lamo

sangha · Feb 10, 2013

ChrisL said:
That makes sense. It still sucks to know that you are the last priority though. You really take your electricity for granted until you lose it. I was thinking today about how spoiled I am. :lamo

Yeah, before each of the power losses in Irene and Sandy, I thought it wouldn't be too bad. After all, I had heat (for Sandy), food and water, and I could read.

But then I had to deal with no AC, flooded basement and mildewy smells, no road (during Sandy), and no internet, cable, telephone, and water pump (for both). It's not too bad at first, but somewhere around the 5th day, it gets really old. Even worse is seeing how everyone up the road has everything.

Tigger · Feb 10, 2013

NOTE: For complete and total honesty.... I work for National Grid and have for more than a decade. The information you're about to read is from an insider..... as he sits in our Providence, RI office working to help restore the 70,000+ Rhode Island customers who are still without power.

ChrisL said:
I'm just popping in to let you know that we have about 2 feet of snow here. I lost power last night and just got power back about 1/2 an hour ago. It was a long cold boring night. Brrrrrr! Very cold. I have electric heat so I had NO heat last night. Anyway, I have a LOT of shoveling to do, so see you guys later! Good luck to everyone! Oh, and BRAVO National Grid for getting the power on so quickly!! Thanks guys!!

That's one of the downsides of electric heat, which I have at my condo as well. You're actually pretty lucky to have gotten it back so quickly.

ChrisL said:
Did you lose power, and if so for how long? Just out of curiosity. I lost electricity last night at around 9 or 10 p.m. and got it back today at around 2 p.m.

That REALLY surprised me. I know we pulled the vast majority of our crews off the road by about 9:30 on Friday night due to the conditions. I have no idea what your specific problem was, but I'm pretty surprised that you got it back that quickly.

sangha said:
Around here, power (every time the wind blows, a tree knocks out a power line) is problem #1, with flooding (I live on the banks of the Hudson River) being #2

Talk to your local government about allowing for more tree trimming. Most companies (including NGRID) do as much as we're allowed by the town/city. Unfortunately there are a lot of tree huggers on these boards that often will not let us do as much trimming as we'd like to.

ChrisL said:
I used to live in a town where they had their own non-profit power company, and we hardly never lost power, and if we did it was quickly turned back on because it was such a small area. Now, I live in another city and I have National Grid. Not to knock them, but I think they have too large of a region to cover. They are INCREDIBLY slow. I have to give them credit this time though. During the hurricane, I had no power for 3 days. This time, it was only like 12 hours or so. So YAY National Grid . . . this time. :lol:

Chris, I would suggest you go and read..... http://www.debatepolitics.com/off-t...lectric-utility-service-re-power-outages.html which I posted a while back and bumped the other day.

Trust me, NGRID wants your power back on ASAP, for two reasons:

a) If your meter isn't turning, they're not making money.
b) If you're out of power, they're probably still paying me (and 17,000+ others) a premium to try and get it back on.

Three days after Hurricane Sandy. Not bad. Many others were without power for almost a week.

sangha said:
I llive on a road where a small number of families live, so we're a low priority when the power goes. The last two times, I was without power (from the elec co) for a week. Fortunately, my neighbor lets me plug my fridge, an electric heater for the BR, and a lamp into his generator, so I can sleep, eat and read. It's the cold water showers that get me.

You're a low priority because there aren't many customers on your street. If I have the option to send a crew to one of two locations:

1. In an hour, they can fix the problem and get 150 customers back on. OR
2. In an hour, they can fix the problem and get 5 customers back on.

Where do you think we're going to send the crew? BTW - That's not just NGRID, that's every electric company in the country.

Please tell me that generator was installed by a licensed electrician and has the proper disconnects. If not, you're putting the workers coming to fix your power in extreme danger.

ChrisL said:
They always seem to tackle the problems within the major part of the city first. I guess that's because that is where the most businesses are located. That's cool that you have a neighbor that will let you do that. Unfortunately, I live in a townhouse with multiple units, and all of my neighbors were in the same boat as me. It was funny when the power came back on, you could actually hear people cheering. :lol:

We tackle the largest outages first. That's just common sense, and in some ways mandated by both the State and the Feds. I hope you checked out the thread I linked above.

sangha said:
Yes, it's where the businesses are but it's also where the major trunks are (I think) and also where the major roads tend to be, which get plowed first, making access to the power lines easier.

But where I am, there are no "major" business areas or crowded areas. At it's densest (in town), it's suburban. Where I am, it's close to rural. It's a short drive to cow country

The further your home is from the substation that serves you, the more likely you are to have extended outages. There are a lot of advantages to living in the suburbs and further out..... Guaranteed 24/7 electric service is NOT on that list.

ChrisL said:
That makes sense. It still sucks to know that you are the last priority though. You really take your electricity for granted until you lose it. I was thinking today about how spoiled I am.

It's not that you're the last or least priority. It's just that there are other priorities that need to take precedence; and we don't always set some of those Priorities. We'd love to be able to keep everyone's power on 24/7/365. We truly would. It's just not a realistic idea. When we have the massive damage that many of these storms cause, there is significant physical work that needs to be done to get the power back on. Poles to replace. Wires to re-string. Transformers and services to re-hang. That takes time.

Helix · Feb 10, 2013

after a power outage late last year, i will say that this is the last house i will ever live in that doesn't have a fireplace.

sangha · Feb 10, 2013

Tigger said:
Talk to your local government about allowing for more tree trimming. Most companies (including NGRID) do as much as we're allowed by the town/city. Unfortunately there are a lot of tree huggers on these boards that often will not let us do as much trimming as we'd like to.

There's plenty of tree-trimming around here. No tree-huggers. Around here, people refer to trees as "weeds"

You're a low priority because there aren't many customers on your street. If I have the option to send a crew to one of two locations:

1. In an hour, they can fix the problem and get 150 customers back on. OR
2. In an hour, they can fix the problem and get 5 customers back on.

Where do you think we're going to send the crew? BTW - That's not just NGRID, that's every electric company in the country.

Please tell me that generator was installed by a licensed electrician and has the proper disconnects. If not, you're putting the workers coming to fix your power in extreme danger.

I wasn't complaining about it. I understand why. I was just explaining my situation to ChrisL

And it the generator is one of those portable dealies and not connected to the electrical system, so it poses no danger to the crews. We just run extension cords

The further your home is from the substation that serves you, the more likely you are to have extended outages. There are a lot of advantages to living in the suburbs and further out..... Guaranteed 24/7 electric service is NOT on that list.

Yes, I willingly put up with the inconvenience for the benefits of living in a remote area

But thanks for the info. I'm sure everyone appreciates it

Tigger · Feb 10, 2013

sangha said:
There's plenty of tree-trimming around here. No tree-huggers. Around here, people refer to trees as "weeds"

I know that we have lots of issues with certain cities and towns here in Massachusetts.

sangha said:
And it the generator is one of those portable dealies and not connected to the electrical system, so it poses no danger to the crews. We just run extension cords

That's fine so long as the cords are connected to the individual appliances and not to the electrical panel inside the house. You'd be shocked and amazed at some of the things our field crews find in terms of how people have their generators wired.

sangha said:
Yes, I willingly put up with the inconvenience for the benefits of living in a remote area. But thanks for the info. I'm sure everyone appreciates it

You're welcome. Not only don't most people understand the isuses, many of them are not very open to hearing why it is their power goes out more often than those people who live in the middle of the big city.

sangha · Feb 10, 2013

Tigger said:
I know that we have lots of issues with certain cities and towns here in Massachusetts.

That's fine so long as the cords are connected to the individual appliances and not to the electrical panel inside the house. You'd be shocked and amazed at some of the things our field crews find in terms of how people have their generators wired.

You're welcome. Not only don't most people understand the isuses, many of them are not very open to hearing why it is their power goes out more often than those people who live in the middle of the big city.

Yes, the appliances are connected directly to the generator. The guy with the generator is an electrical engineer. I assume he knows what he's doing

And I can only imagine the stupid things some people do.

Too many people have gotten complacent about the basic necessities of modern living. They just take them for granted.

Tigger · Feb 10, 2013

sangha said:
Too many people have gotten complacent about the basic necessities of modern living. They just take them for granted.

Complacent and overly-needy. The lights go out for an hour and they're threatening to sue us into non-existance. The ones I love are those who constantly demand that everything be moved underground.... Until they hear what it would do to their rates for us to actually accomplish it.

ChrisL · Feb 10, 2013

Tigger said:
NOTE: For complete and total honesty.... I work for National Grid and have for more than a decade. The information you're about to read is from an insider..... as he sits in our Providence, RI office working to help restore the 70,000+ Rhode Island customers who are still without power.

That's one of the downsides of electric heat, which I have at my condo as well. You're actually pretty lucky to have gotten it back so quickly.

That REALLY surprised me. I know we pulled the vast majority of our crews off the road by about 9:30 on Friday night due to the conditions. I have no idea what your specific problem was, but I'm pretty surprised that you got it back that quickly.

Talk to your local government about allowing for more tree trimming. Most companies (including NGRID) do as much as we're allowed by the town/city. Unfortunately there are a lot of tree huggers on these boards that often will not let us do as much trimming as we'd like to.

Chris, I would suggest you go and read..... http://www.debatepolitics.com/off-t...lectric-utility-service-re-power-outages.html which I posted a while back and bumped the other day.

Trust me, NGRID wants your power back on ASAP, for two reasons:

a) If your meter isn't turning, they're not making money.
b) If you're out of power, they're probably still paying me (and 17,000+ others) a premium to try and get it back on.

Three days after Hurricane Sandy. Not bad. Many others were without power for almost a week.

You're a low priority because there aren't many customers on your street. If I have the option to send a crew to one of two locations:

1. In an hour, they can fix the problem and get 150 customers back on. OR
2. In an hour, they can fix the problem and get 5 customers back on.

Where do you think we're going to send the crew? BTW - That's not just NGRID, that's every electric company in the country.

Please tell me that generator was installed by a licensed electrician and has the proper disconnects. If not, you're putting the workers coming to fix your power in extreme danger.

We tackle the largest outages first. That's just common sense, and in some ways mandated by both the State and the Feds. I hope you checked out the thread I linked above.

The further your home is from the substation that serves you, the more likely you are to have extended outages. There are a lot of advantages to living in the suburbs and further out..... Guaranteed 24/7 electric service is NOT on that list.

It's not that you're the last or least priority. It's just that there are other priorities that need to take precedence; and we don't always set some of those Priorities. We'd love to be able to keep everyone's power on 24/7/365. We truly would. It's just not a realistic idea. When we have the massive damage that many of these storms cause, there is significant physical work that needs to be done to get the power back on. Poles to replace. Wires to re-string. Transformers and services to re-hang. That takes time.

I understand that it has to be prioritized. You can't be everywhere at once.

Yes! I was pleasantly surprised by how fast I got my electricity back on! Bravo to you guys!!! I was thrilled because I was expecting to be without power all weekend and freezing my buns off!

ChrisL · Feb 10, 2013

Helix said:
after a power outage late last year, i will say that this is the last house i will ever live in that doesn't have a fireplace.

Lol! I was trying to think of ways I could maybe start a fire without burning down my house. :lamo Of course, I decided that probably wasn't a very good idea.