Power shutoffs can hit thousands in Bay Area
PG&E began notifying customers across Northern California of possible public safety power shutoff.
Utility PG&E began notifying customers across Northern California of another possible public safety power shutoff this week, the latest in a series of blackouts that have thrust the utility into the national spotlight.
At noon Monday, PG&E said that approximately 264,000 customers could be affected in portions of 22 counties, up from an estimated 180,000 customers on Sunday, due to increased fire danger. In the Bay Area, that could mean outages in the East and North Bays. (Click here for a map of the approximate area.)
With gusty winds, unseasonably warm temperatures and low humidity in this week’s forecast, PG&E is keeping a close eye on fire-prone areas — including the wine country recently ravaged by the Kincade Fire — for conditions that could warrant power shutoffs on Wednesday and Thursday.
The National Weather Service on Sunday also issued a “fire weather watch” beginning late Tuesday night through Thursday morning for the North Bay Mountains, East Bay Hills and Diablo Range, which is expected to be upgraded to a “red flag warning” by Monday afternoon, said NWS meteorologist Roger Gass.
Gass said Monday that gusty offshore winds will dry out vegetation starting early in the week, potentially creating extremely dry conditions throughout the day on Wednesday.
“The period of most critical concern will be Wednesday afternoon heading into Wednesday night, as conditions will really dry out,” Gass said.
PG&E also upgraded its alert to a public safety power shutoff “watch” Monday, meaning that there is what the utility calls a “reasonable” chance of shutoffs within the next 72 hours.
Temperatures will be warmer than usual for November, with temperatures in some areas set “to rise into the 70s to low 80s, which is 10—20 degrees above normal for mid-November,” according to PG&E’s forecast.
It will also be windy, with gusts of 50 miles per hour forecast for the Sacramento Valley, northern Sierra foothills and North Bay hills, according to PG&E’s forecast. Winds will die off by Thursday night.
Counties and cities in turn began alerting residents on Monday morning to prepare for possible outages. The towns of Orinda and Lafayette said in releases that they anticipated shutoffs to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday; in Marin, meanwhile, outages are projected to begin at 4 p.m.
Up to 23,230 customers could be hit in Contra Costa, 23,440 in Marin, 11,180 in Napa and 39,940 in Sonoma counties, the utility said.
The warning applies to PG&E customers in parts of 22 counties: Alameda, Amador, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba counties.
If PG&E does decide to shut off power, the size and scope could top those of a planned outage that began on Oct. 23 and lasted two days, affecting nearly 180,000 people across 17 counties.
“There is still considerable uncertainty regarding the strength, timing and humidity levels with this system and some changes in the forecast are possible moving forward,” the utility’s forecast said.