WX-MAN's Musings

I was looking through my daily weather blogs seeing what topics were being discussed and I came across a post from AccuWeather.com’s Jesse Ferrell Weather Matrix Blog and Ike’s national impact on power outages. Looking at ALL the power outages Ike has caused in the US from its time as a Hurricane and tropical storm through Texas, Louisiana Arkansas and parts of Missouri, and then as a depression and a remnant low in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, Jesse Ferrell calculated that Ike knocked out power to 7.5 million customers.

This hits home because here in upstate New York, National Grid reported more than 100,000 customers are without power. Fortunately it didn’t impact my family but other were not so lucky. Where I live in Monroe County New York (Incuding Rochester), around 15,000 customers are with out power. National Grid also reports that it may not be until 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday for all power to be totally restored in parts of upstate New York.

Jesse also lists the other states by their numbers, he goes on to explain:

Given that power is reported by separate power companies, which only cover small areas, this number if probably underestimated (for example, the only number we have for Kentucky is the Louisville area, the number is probably closer to 8 million. Here’s the breakdown, where I have also noted historical subtext (all references are in the WikiPedia entry):

Texas: 4,500,000
Ohio: 1,591,000*
Indiana: 350,000
Kentucky: 300,000 (Louisville) – Unprecedented
Louisiana: 200,000
Arkansas: 200,000 – Worst Since 2000
New York: 100,000
Pennsylvania: 180,000 (Western)
Missouri: 85,000
Illinois: 49,000

Again this was all through the life cycle of Ike and here are some of the peak wind gusts I found through the Midwest and Great Lakes Sunday into Monday morning:

• Beaver County, Pa: 79 mph
• Ashtabula, Ohio: 78 mph
• Gahanna, Ohio: 75 mph
• Louisville, Ky.: 75 mph
• Wilmington, Ohio: 74 mph
• Pittsburgh, Pa: 67 mph
• Indianapolis, Ind.: 63 mph
• Cincinnati, Ohio: 61 mph
• Butler, Pa: 60 mph
• Niagara Falls, NY: 59 mph
• Syracuse, NY: 59 mph
• Rochester, NY: 58 mph
• Jamestown, NY: 54 mph
• Buffalo, NY: 53 mph
  

(The following numbers I got from WSEE Storm Team Meteorologist, Ray Petelin)

• Youngstown, Ohio: 61 mph
• Akron Ohio: 56 mph
• Cincinnati, Ohio: 61 mph
• Erie, Pa: 54 mph
• Cleveland, Ohio: 54 mph
  

There are reports in Texas that restoring power to Galveston, Houston (the 4th largest city in the United States) and the rest of Southeast Texas and Louisiana could take weeks if not months, and parts of Louisiana are still trying to get the lights back on after Gustav. Reports I am getting from friends and relatives in the Midwest they are being told it may be a week until they get their power on in Louisville and parts of Ohio. I haven’t seen this reported yet but I wonder if the delay in the Midwest and Ohio Valley is a result of crews leaving these states to go and help out in the Gulf?

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