Utilities go to Extremes

Crazy weather in unexpected places forces grid to adjust

A reported 85,000 customers in the greater Los Angeles area were without power Saturday as a rare winter storm battered the region with rain and snow over multiple days. The system triggered the area's first blizzard warning since 1989.

The storm flooded areas near sea level, with downtown Los Angeles seeing the most single-day rain (2.3 inches) in 20 years. It brought powder to the surrounding foothills, dropping the snowline from around 3,000 feet to 1,000 feet in elevation. Nearby mountain communities were blanketed with multiple feet of snow. Mountain High resort—about 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles, but around 7,000 feet elevation—recorded a whopping 7 feet of snow in total. See photos of the winter weather here.

Separately, almost 300,000 customers in Michigan entered a fourth day without power following a midweek ice storm.