4 ms·

130,600 PG&E customers without power as storm drenches Bay Area

22 points by MilnerRoute 5y ago

MilnerRoute 5y ago
It's the biggest Bay Area storm in 26 years, according to the article -- and the third-strongest storm of the last 61 years.
- throwaway81523 5y ago
  I wonder how they measure that. At least where I am, there has been steady medium rain since yesterday, but no drenching cloudbursts or powerful winds.
  - abc_lisper 5y ago
    https://www.ggweather.com/basi.htm https://www.ggweather.com/basi.htm
- refurb 5y ago
  Seems like every fall/winter the "atmospheric river" and "major storm" news article get published. I guess it's just how it works in a place that gets very little rain or severe weather.
dangle1 5y ago
Quite a few go-arounds at SFO today due to weather along with pilots reporting their wind shear alarms activating during taxi to runway, maybe most inconvenient was Aeromexico having to divert to FAT (Fresno) after two go-arounds: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AMX668/history/20211024/1405Z/MMMX/KFAT https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AMX668/history/20211024/...
1270018080 5y ago
As someone who has lost track of drought info. Is this still a net-positive for the region?
- throwaway81523 5y ago
  Unless there's catastrophic flooding, it has to be good.
- ls612 5y ago
  If the drought is still ongoing this will surely end it at least for everywhere north of San Jose. Idk if it will be enough for them to catch up to where they should be for rainfall.
  - jefurii 5y ago
    The trick is to capture all that water instead of letting it just run off.
- pkaye 5y ago
  I think reservoirs are still below capacity but we are early in the season. The graphs are updated on a daily basis. But any water still helps. Also its good to have heavy snowfall in the sierras to spread the water flow over the seasons. You don't want everything coming at once. https://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/rescond.pdf https://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/rescond.pdf
GaryTang 5y ago
Since no one else seems to be asking, why is the infrastructure so bad in SF?
- pkaye 5y ago
  Don't other parts of the state get power outages during major storms? Didn't Texas go through a major power failure this year due to winter storm?
  - GaryTang 5y ago
    Yes but when the failure occurred in Texas, infrastructure was a focal point for weeks. It hasn’t even been mentioned for SF.
p1mrx 5y ago
In related news, California just passed AB-1346, banning the sale of small backup generators starting in 2024.
- pkaye 5y ago
  The law includes a provision that the ban will go into effect only if there is suitable zero emission replacement. The goal is to incentivize some cleaner alternatives to be developed. And even then previous purchased generators are grandfathered.
myrandomcomment 5y ago
So by last count my family and I have been without power 9 times in the last 3 months. Today the lights flickered on and off a number of times but stayed on, well until around 7pm. I am sitting on the patio listing to the rain in darkness (my old friend in PG&E land) again. The rain while hard is not really that bad in comparison to the storms of my childhood on the east coast, yet the power is out. The fact of the matter is the power grid in CA has been mismanaged and neglected for years, with the power companies focused 100% on profit. Power is an essential need. I am generally against government run industry however at this point I very much believe that we would be better served by having PG&E taken over. It should be run as a nonprofit with the goal of insuring power and safety. The leadership that runs it should limited to a group of people that have science and engineering degrees. Also title here needs to be updated…..over 320K without power now.

22 points by MilnerRoute 5y ago

It's the biggest Bay Area storm in 26 years, according to the article -- and the third-strongest storm of the last 61 years.

throwaway81523 5y ago
I wonder how they measure that. At least where I am, there has been steady medium rain since yesterday, but no drenching cloudbursts or powerful winds.
- abc_lisper 5y ago
  https://www.ggweather.com/basi.htm https://www.ggweather.com/basi.htm
refurb 5y ago
Seems like every fall/winter the "atmospheric river" and "major storm" news article get published. I guess it's just how it works in a place that gets very little rain or severe weather.

dangle1 5y ago

Quite a few go-arounds at SFO today due to weather along with pilots reporting their wind shear alarms activating during taxi to runway, maybe most inconvenient was Aeromexico having to divert to FAT (Fresno) after two go-arounds: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AMX668/history/20211024/1405Z/MMMX/KFAT https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AMX668/history/20211024/...

1270018080 5y ago

As someone who has lost track of drought info. Is this still a net-positive for the region?

throwaway81523 5y ago
Unless there's catastrophic flooding, it has to be good.
ls612 5y ago
If the drought is still ongoing this will surely end it at least for everywhere north of San Jose. Idk if it will be enough for them to catch up to where they should be for rainfall.
- jefurii 5y ago
  The trick is to capture all that water instead of letting it just run off.
pkaye 5y ago
I think reservoirs are still below capacity but we are early in the season. The graphs are updated on a daily basis. But any water still helps. Also its good to have heavy snowfall in the sierras to spread the water flow over the seasons. You don't want everything coming at once. https://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/rescond.pdf https://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/products/rescond.pdf

GaryTang 5y ago

Since no one else seems to be asking, why is the infrastructure so bad in SF?

pkaye 5y ago
Don't other parts of the state get power outages during major storms? Didn't Texas go through a major power failure this year due to winter storm?
- GaryTang 5y ago
  Yes but when the failure occurred in Texas, infrastructure was a focal point for weeks. It hasn’t even been mentioned for SF.

p1mrx 5y ago

In related news, California just passed AB-1346, banning the sale of small backup generators starting in 2024.

pkaye 5y ago
The law includes a provision that the ban will go into effect only if there is suitable zero emission replacement. The goal is to incentivize some cleaner alternatives to be developed. And even then previous purchased generators are grandfathered.

myrandomcomment 5y ago

So by last count my family and I have been without power 9 times in the last 3 months. Today the lights flickered on and off a number of times but stayed on, well until around 7pm. I am sitting on the patio listing to the rain in darkness (my old friend in PG&E land) again. The rain while hard is not really that bad in comparison to the storms of my childhood on the east coast, yet the power is out. The fact of the matter is the power grid in CA has been mismanaged and neglected for years, with the power companies focused 100% on profit. Power is an essential need. I am generally against government run industry however at this point I very much believe that we would be better served by having PG&E taken over. It should be run as a nonprofit with the goal of insuring power and safety. The leadership that runs it should limited to a group of people that have science and engineering degrees. Also title here needs to be updated…..over 320K without power now.