Unitil Corporation, a provider of electricity and natural gas to customers in New England, is preparing for potential for hazardous conditions from a rare spring snowstorm expected to reach the area later this week.
According to the most recent forecast, as much as 6-10 inches of snow are possible in inland areas within Unitil’s service region as well as wind gusts of 40-45 mph during the peak hours of the storm Wednesday night and into Thursday. While snow totals may be lower in costal areas as rain mixes in, wind gusts may reach 55 mph in these regions, and overall snow consistency may be wetter and heavier in nature. Wet, heavy snow has the potential to weigh down trees and tree branches, pulling them into electric infrastructure and causing outages.
“In spring storms like this, only a few degrees warmer or colder in the upper atmosphere can make all the difference between whether we see wet, heavy snow, a more normal snow, or simply rain, and each of these outcomes can have very different effects on the system,” Unitil External Affairs Director Alec O’Meara said. “Because of this uncertainty, we are monitoring this coming storm very closely due to its potential size and duration, with a high focus on how far northward rain mixing develops.”
Unitil proactively secured additional third-party crew resources over the weekend in advance of the storm to aid with restoration efforts should outages occur. We recommend our customers prepare similarly by checking and making an inventory of the following items:
- Flashlights and fresh batteries
- Portable chargers and supplemental batteries for mobile devices
- Bottled water, canned foods and a manual can opener
- A first aid kit.
Heavy wet snow has the potential to damage trees and to take wires to the ground. We urge people to always assume all fallen or dangling cables and wires are energized and stay away. Be sure to avoid wet ground or puddles near a downed line, as water conducts electricity. In addition, keep away from all flooded and debris laden areas because they may be hiding downed lines. Stay in a safe place and avoid driving in damaged areas so you don’t interfere with rescue and restoration efforts.
Unitil will be communicating throughout the event through Public Service Announcements (PSAs), our website, our customer call center and through the media. We also encourage customers to follow along with our storm updates via Facebook, our Twitter feed (@Unitil) and we will be providing real-time outage information online at unitil.com/map.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR MEDIA:
Unitil asks that when reporting outage information, outlets time stamp the information. Outage numbers change hourly and we wish to make sure the information customers receive is consistent and understandable. Re-Tweets and re-posting of old information without referencing a time can create confusion.
Customers experiencing outages should call 1-888-301-7700 or report online at unitil.com/report-outage.
