Winter with no power (Seattle, Bellevue: power lines, condos, how much)

[chelseagirl]

How are the winters in Seattle? I believe I saw some news stories stating Seattle was hit hard this last couple of winters and had power outages lasting days and sometimes weeks at a time. First off, is this true? If so, where are the outages occuring? If you have experienced such an outage, how do you prepare and get through it, especially during the winter?
Remember, I am a native from Las Vegas, and I have never experienced "winter". Well we did have some snow that stuck to the ground for a second, but seriously our winters are cake in comparison to the rest of the country.
This is one of the points my fiance is fighting me on, saying the first winter up in Seattle will be my last, because I will freak out and want out. I dont think I am that much of a baby, but again, never experienced it. Please comment with your winter experience in Seattle. Thanks,

[Ira500]

December 06 was a power outage which affected a lot of people in the Seattle area...I lost power for 5+ days and it was absolutely miserable, but most winters power isn't lost at all, or if it is , the outage usually doesn't last more than a couple of hours. I showered at the gym, and arrived at the office extremely early just to hang out in warmth. When power goes out, it usually isn't widespread or long lasting.
But Seattle does get storms. There are too many days in the winter where it's no longer a warm pleasant drizzle, but hard rain, falling sideways, stinging,wind blowing hard, and 38 degrees. We get days like that every winter.

[woodinvilleguy]

We used to lose power every winter for a few days. The December 06 was horrible, We lost power for a week and it was litteraly freezing in the 20's for that week. Our family of 5 spent the week huddled in our rec room which had a wood stove. We couldn't get anywhere for a few days because our area litteraly had 80 foot trees across power lines and the streets. It was 4 days before we made it to my work to shower.

A couple years before that was an ice storm that took everything out too....

But it is pretty!!!

[allforcats]

Lots of homes, including condos and townhouses, have a fireplace or wood stove which is extremely helpful during cold-weather power outages: you close off most rooms, everyone including companion animals gathers in the room with the fireplace, and everyone stays warm. That's what I've always done.

Some residents of houses own a generator, which comes in handy, of course, on such days especially with babies or children in the family.

There are also snow days when there's enough ice under the snow, or there's so much snow, that you can't drive out of your driveway, and the roads, including the highways, have lots of cars that have stalled, or slid into the ditches, or slid into other vehicles -- all just sitting on the roads, so it's pretty impossible to drive and even many of the public transit busses aren't running. At those times, people stay home from work whenever possible. It's great fun with lots of snow!

In Bellevue, only once did our power go out overnight. That was many, many years ago. Since then, power has gone out for hours, no longer than 10 hours but usually about 4 or 5. I grew up with fireplaces, and know how to cook food, heat water, and warm up cat food using the fireplace.

[tada]

December '06 was definitely an exception. A windstorm hit us like a ton of bricks. Most power outages last a few hours at most.

The power outages are probably going to be the least of your problems with winter. Not seeing the sun for weeks at a time can make a person depressed and/or suicidal. Not fun, and my goal is to escape in March next year.

[allforcats]

Chelseagirl, to answer your question about where outages occur -- anyplace where the electricity is delivered by overhead power lines. Which is almost everywhere. There are not a lot of locations in western Washington where the lines are underground. So if a tree can lean onto or fall onto a power line, or the wind can blow any other type of debris onto power lines, that's where a power outage can occur. Once the power went out in an area of Bellevue and it turned out that a squirrel had gotten into a transformer... poor squirrel...

[chelseagirl]

Allforcats,
My question of where power outages occured was referring to whether it is in proper Seattle or on the outskirts, in the Eastside communities, etc. I would like an understanding of the outages in reference to the frequency and duration in the city and surrounding communities. I understand the reason why power goes out, thank you for the explanation though!

[allforcats]

Where? Everywhere. Most power is delivered in western Washington via overhead power lines. That's where. Seattle proper, outskirts, eastside cities, rural communities -- everywhere.
Frequency depends entirely on how much wind is generated, blowing down lines or blowing trees onto lines. My experience in Bellevue is 3 to 6 times from Nov. 1 through mid-Feb.
Duration in the city and in the surrounding communities has been, as we've mentioned, from a couple of hours to several days, depending on how much damage has been done to the lines and transformers, and how dangerous it is for the workers to get to the lines and so how much prep work has to be done before they can get to the lines. As mentioned, I think our expectation (read: usual experience) is that a power outage will last several hours; pizza places do landoffice business on such days!

[Ira500]

I think within the city of Seattle, the outages don't tend to last as long.

[mayfair]

Power goes out more often and for longer times in any of the outlying areas- there are more trees and it takes longer to get the lines repaired. Closer in to the city you're less likely to lose power for extended periods of time.