4 ms·

This is a regional thing, not a "US" thing. There are lots of Dug fir trees (60-120 ft tall, often with shallow root systems. Also many power lines are above gr

This is a regional thing, not a "US" thing. There are lots of Dug fir trees (60-120 ft tall, often with shallow root systems. Also many power lines are above ground elevated lines, but shorter then the trees. Most power generation comes from hydroelectric, so plenty of power generation, but in the US Pacific NW, it doesn't freeze too often. Most of the time it is just wet and rainy all winter long. So two things: 1. people are willing to attribute power loss to storms 2. Trees are not generally used to such cold weather, so they will break and snap in this weather. I'm not excusing such power outages. But this does come from a specific material reality.

sponaugle 3y ago
Exactly. It is important to remember that the rural somewhat-backwater state that both Linus and I live in, Oregon, is slightly larger than United Kingdom. Population of about 4.3 million (compared to 67 million in the same area in the UK). The reality of the power distribution network is a continuous threat from trees, of which there are a lot. Oregon has about 10 billion trees (compared to 3 billion in the UK). As kardianos mentioned - The trees are tall and the power lines are in the fall zone - which is a recipe for problems in ice/winds storms that don't happen often. Just keeping the trees trimmed near the power lines themselves is a huge undertaking of continuous work. The grid could be much more resilient - But not for $0.12/kwh.