How the soggy summer of 2024 left some members in the dark
No doubt about it, the summer of 2024 was wetter than normal. The Wisconsin State Climatology Office at the University of Wisconsin Madison reported on its website that "Rain fell frequently and intensely during June. Across most of the state, measurable rainfall (at least 0.01 inch) occurred on more than half the days. A very wet June in Wisconsin completely extinguished the last remnants of drought across the entire state. June precipitation picked right up from a waterlogged May. Virtually the entire state experienced wetter-than-normal conditions, in some places by large amounts. In fact, the month goes in the books as Wisconsin’s sixth wettest June on record (since 1895). Most locations got at least half a foot of rainfall, leading to a statewide average of 6.97 inches, which is a hearty 48 percent (2.27 inches) more than normal, right."
We know the soggy summer impacted our wetlands, gardens and farm fields, but did you know that wet conditions also impact reliability for co-op members?
Operations engineer Jarod Boerst explained that heavy rains cause trees to split and uproot. "When a tree has its limbs and roots saturated, it just needs a wind gust from the right direction to break or uproot."
This picture above was taken near Osceola in June by General Manager Steve Stroshane. Saturated soil and strong winds uprooted this tree and it fell onto power lines. The tree took longer than average to clear because of its size, resulting in a longer outage. That same night, crews responded to three similar outages. Wet soil and wind make even healthy trees vulnerable.
"This is why our work to clear trees and branches from the right-of-way is so important," said Stroshane. "We can't prevent every threat, but we're confident our right-of-way program improves safety and reduces outages for members."
Other common causes of power outages include lightning strikes, animal contact with power lines (often squirrels and birds), car accidents that damage poles and wires, and excavation work that damages underground cable. Power supply outages can be caused by problems impacting substations or transmission lines.
Be prepared! If your power goes out:
1. Check circuit breakers, fuses and the neighbors.
2. Report outages on SmartHub or 800-421-0283.
3. Keep away and report fallen power lines, and trees and branches on lines.
4. Visit our Outage Center on polkburnett.com for live outage map and FAQs. Watch Facebook for major outages.
5. If we have your cell number, we'll send an outage text alert. Please give us a call to add your number to your account.
