When it comes to power outages, the weather at your house does not matter as much as you think. I need to address this, because I am hearing this complaint a lot and I think it needs more context.
Many residents in the planned power outage areas mention that it hasn't been windy at their house, and it stokes the outrage.
The issue, though, is a disconnect about power at your house and where it's coming from.
The key thing that matters for power outages is the weather along the entire length of the transmission lines that go far into the Sierra often connecting to dams and hydro-power.
Also, there are big interstate lines, because some power we use is generated in other states, and some power we generate goes out of state.
The graphic below shows gusts overnight into Wednesday as strong as 51 mph in same canyon that spawned the Camp Fire. At the same time, wind in areas with outages only saw 7 mph gusts.
The next graphic shows the blue big transmission lines — if it is gusty at any point along that blue line, and it meets the criteria that PG&E decided on, they will shut off power.
If the power gets shut off upstream, it may limit power to customers down the line.
The power grid is a very complex network that crosses vast areas, climates, and weather conditions and you may experience an outage from something happening far away from your residence.
If you have any weather-related questions, reach out to Rob Carlmark on Facebook.
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