Some parts of Carolinas witnesses power outage due to bad weather and snowfall

United States: The Former Charlotte Observer weather writer Steve Lyttle mentioned that Christmas Eve is not turning out to be a fun day for hundreds of thousands of Carolinas residents, with the Duke Energy power grid not able to stand up to the arctic blast. 

There will be plenty of time to examine what happened and how (or if) it can be fixed, but it’s safe to say that this was not a good look for the Carolinas.

Aside from how or why it happened, the communication was horrendous. Basically, news spread by word of mouth for the first few hours.

He highlighted in the statement, “(And when we’re finding answers, maybe someone can explain how, for much of the morning, Mecklenburg County has had three times the number of power outages than Wake County. It’s the same parent company. The technology in Raleigh must be better, huh?)”

The good news is that while people shivered without power today, at least people could get in their cars and drive around to warm up. That’s not possible in parts of the Great Lakes, notably Buffalo. There, a blizzard of epic proportions is taking place. Several feet of snow, winds over 60 mph, subzero temperatures, and flooding from Lake Erie, that’s enough to dampen anyone’s holiday spirits.

So after a low of 9 degrees this morning in Charlotte, everyone is looking at another bitterly cold night. And then Christmas night will simply be very cold (rather than bitterly cold). And, of course, people will be in shorts by New Years Day. Steve said, “I just hope people in power don’t forget about all that went wrong today.”

TODAY: Sunny and bitterly cold, with temperatures only reaching 27 degrees.

CHRISTMAS EVE: Clear and bitterly cold, with a low of 12. The record is 3, set in 1983. I don’t remember rolling blackouts that year.

CHRISTMAS DAY: Sunny and frigid again, with a high around 35.

CHRISTMAS NIGHT: Clear, with a low of 18.

MONDAY: Sunshine, mixed with some clouds in the afternoon. Continued quite cold, with a high of 38.

TUESDAY: Sunny and chilly. High of 44.

WEDNESDAY: Sunny and chilly. High of 48.

THURSDAY: Sunny and milder. High of 54.

FRIDAY: Sunshine, mixed with some clouds, and quite mild. High near 60.