Winds from cold front could prompt public safety outages

Residents on either side of the Carson Range might want make sure they have firewood and check their generators with the potential of a 24-hour public safety outage starting Wednesday morning.

“Due to elevated fire weather conditions forecast for the South Carson, Genoa and Glenbrook areas, a public safety outage is likely to affect approximately 1,650 NV Energy customers beginning at approximately 9 a.m. Wednesday until 9 a.m. Thursday,” Spokeswoman Meghin Delaney said on Monday evening.

National Weather Service forecasters are predicting a strong low pressure system dropping into Western Nevada from the north.

“Travel and recreation impacts are on the table with gusts 30-40 mph, possibly a bit stronger in wind prone areas,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Mark Deutschendorf on Monday. “Winds ramp up Wednesday afternoon into Thursday morning to 40-50 kts, yielding a potential for 80+ mph gusts on Sierra ridges.”

Should the high winds come to pass, NV Energy announced it will proactively de-energize power for customers in high-risk zones to help protect the community and environment from wildfires.   

“This potential proactive outage will impact a small portion of the total number of NV Energy customers in the South Carson, Genoa and Glenbrook areas,” Delaney said. “The proactive outage will be adjusted or cancelled if weather conditions change.”

Power company customers affected by the outage will be notified via phone, text, email messages and social media. NV Energy will continue to monitor fire weather conditions and will provide regular updates on the status of the outage.

 “The outage timeframe includes the duration of the weather event and an estimate of how long it will take crews to inspect the lines for damage, vegetation or debris to begin safely restoring power,” Delaney said. “The restoration time may change based on weather conditions or if crews must make repairs to equipment.”

Additional information, including outage preparedness tips, criteria and maps of the impacted zones can be found online at nvenergy.com/psom. 

Even if the power stays on, residents should prepare for colder weather this week, with overnight temperatures dropping into the teens and 20s by Saturday.

“Any areas that managed to avoid overnight freezes so far this month are virtually certain to see a solid hard freeze by Saturday night, with lows ranging from the upper teens to mid 20s, with some lows in single digits possible for colder Sierra valleys,” Deutschendorf said. “This is also the level of coldness where irrigation pipes need to be protected from exposure and bursting risk, along with ensuring that pets and livestock have access to sufficient warmth.”