Strong winds cause of multiple power outages
With wind gusts in the region reaching as high as 54 mph Friday, thousands of Butler County residents have lost power because of downed power lines. At least 1,000 people were affected by the morning outages.
Butler County and the region were under a weather advisory for Friday, with sustained winds reaching between 30 to 39 mph and gusts from 46 to 57 mph, according to Myranda Fullerton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Throughout the day, Fullerton noted that her organization received reports of downed wires. West Penn Power and Central Electric Cooperative reported more than 1,000 customers without power in the area in the morning. By the afternoon, Central Electric Cooperative had fewer than 100 customers without power, and West Penn was down to fewer than 500.
Todd Meyers, a spokesman for West Penn Power, said the figures are likely to go up as the weather advisory ran through Friday afternoon, but by late afternoon repairs outpaced power loss.
“It's a challenging storm because it's so large geographically, and we need to handle it with our own crews. There's no outside help available,” Meyers said, explaining work crews in other parts of the region are busy with their own outages from the winds.
Fullerton said the wind was the result of a low pressure system crossing Lake Erie from the southwest to the northeast, creating a “strong pressure gradient.”
“It especially picked up with sun rises because the sun heats the air, creating that strong force,” Fullerton said.
The rest of the weekend is expected to be calm, with sunshine forecast for Saturday and rain on Sunday.
Meyers noted that most of their prevention for these kinds of storms takes place throughout the year.
“Annual tree trimming is essential. We trim trees along more than 4,000 miles of power line,” he said. “Tree trimming is a major initiative.”
