WASHINGTON — It can get cold and dark during the winter, but the interior of your home shouldn’t be like that. And the area’s utilities say they’re gearing up to get ready for whatever winter dishes out.
Chris Strong, the warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service — and yes, he knows how ominous that title sounds — says that sometimes we get strong signals that a winter will be especially severe. So far, he says, there’s no clear indication the Baltimore-Washington area will be hit with a series of “Snowmageddons.”
But he adds, “We have to be ready for those! Because you can have a mild, dry winter, but if the conditions shift,” Strong says, “you can get a big storm in an otherwise unexceptional winter.”
Mike Sullivan, senior vice president of operations and engineering for Pepco, says the utility company is ready, too.
“Everything we do hinges sometimes on a degree-or-two change,” Sullivan says.
The light, powdery snow is generally not a problem, Sullivan says — it’s the heavy, wet stuff that will bring trees and tree limbs down across wires and leave customers in the dark — and cold.
“Evergreen trees in general can be very problematic in winter,” he says.
Their wide, sweeping limbs are especially susceptible to snapping and breaking when the heavy wet snows hit.
If and when power does go out, Sullivan says, smart meters help Pepco pinpoint outages, but you’ll still want to notify the utility when you lose power for any reason.
Pepco held a briefing on winter preparations on Monday, and included information on managing your utility costs during winter. Pepco officials provide a program called Budget Billing, aimed at spreading the costs of energy across 12 months and thus avoiding unexpected spikes in utility bills.
For more information on Pepco’s billing plans, visit its website.
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WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
