Hoar frost: lovely but lethal to power lines
Utility working as quickly ‘as possible’ to fix damage across the province
The picturesque hoar frost that has transformed the Saskatchewan landscape into a shimmery winter wonderland is also wreaking havoc with power lines, keeping Saskpower workers and phones at the Crown corporation busy.
“We’re fixing things as quickly and safely as possible,” Saskpower spokesman Jordan Jackle said Monday.
Between Friday and Monday afternoon, Saskpower’s Outage Centre fielded 32,000 calls reporting power line problems, largely due to the frost. That’s more calls for service than Saskpower received in the entire month of November.
The calls were reporting outages and downed power lines and poles spread across south and central Saskatchewan, in a wide band stretching from the Saskatchewan-u.s. border to Prince Albert.
No one community had been particularly hard hit as of Monday afternoon. The service calls don’t necessarily translate into the number of households with power problems. Those numbers were still being tallied Monday.
Jackle explained that several days of fog and mist and little sunlight created a buildup of hoar frost on power equipment.
“It adds significant weight to that power line,” he said, explaining that the frost accumulation creates breaks in the lines and, with enough weight, can also bring down poles. In other cases, tree branches brought down by the weight of the frost is also damaging lines.
Jackle said crews have been rotating shifts to work around the clock and fix the problems. Contractors were also brought in to assist and provide some relief for Saskpower crews.
Saskpower is also warning the public that if anyone should come across a downed line or pole, assume it’s live and call Saskpower or, in an emergency, 911.
“People shouldn’t be going anywhere near them,” said Jackle.
As to how long the problem might remain, Jackle said it really depends on the weather. Given time and sunlight, Mother Nature should take care of Jack Frost.