According to most forecast models, our area is under a freezing rain advisory this weekend with an ice potential of anywhere from .10” to .20”. Rest assured, Tipmont REMC is prepared for anything Mother Nature throws our way.
According to Operations Manager Scot Price, power lines aren’t significantly impacted until the ice accumulation becomes .25” or higher.
“At a quarter inch of ice accumulation, the tree limbs begin to break and fall on the lines, which is what causes most power outages during ice storm,” Price said.
Looking at the forecast this weekend, Price doesn’t anticipate major problems this weekend.
“First, the accumulation hopefully won’t be enough to cause significant problems. Second, ice storms usually hit in narrow bands. Tipmont’s territory is large enough that it’s not likely our entire service will be affected. In this case, we’re able to pull our south crews to the north and vice versa when needed. Not many cooperatives have that luxury.”
Price also says that Tipmont is well prepared should the weather take a turn for the worse.
“Our crews work in just about any kind of weather, so we’ll always respond in force when called. Additionally, our materials supplier is only two hours away with any and every piece of line equipment we might need during a storm response.”
Tipmont members should always call (800) 726-3953 to report outages. Calling helps verify the actual number of people that are out of power, which reduces the time the crews need to spend patrolling the lines looking for problems.
Additionally, an outage map is available at tipmont.org/outages and updates are posted to Tipmont’s Facebook and Twitter page as information is available. Outages should not be reported via social media as those properties do not have a direct connection to Tipmont’s dispatch office. Calling (800) 726-3953 is always preferred.
