Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

Myrtle Beach in South Carolina is not known for its snow storms, and that’s one of the reasons that the area is so popular. But weather this week showed that no area is immune from unusual weather these days.

Winter weather that began early in the week swept through South Carolina’s Horry County about six hours after a state of emergency was declared by Gov. Nikki Haley.

Roads were covered with snow and then ice, widespread power outages occurred, and an area not known for its winter weather grappled with a quick change in temperatures this week.

"Large accumulations of sleet from [Wednesday's] storm cover many highways across the Eastern Carolinas this morning. In some places the sleet has become a solid sheet of ice, one inch or more thick," forecasters said on Thursday, according to Myrtle Beach Online. "Not traveling is the safest option. If you must venture out, steer, brake and accelerate gently to avoid losing traction on icy roads. Leave plenty of distance between vehicles to prevent chain reaction pile-ups."

Area schools, government offices, restaurants, businesses and malls announced closures for Tuesday and Wednesday, although as of Friday most of the snow and ice had melted.

It isn’t that winter weather is unheard of in the area; it was more that the weather was more than a quick flash, which is the norm; for days the weather was below freezing, which is uncommon according to Myrtle Beach Online, which has covered the storm throughout its attack on the area.

It is times like these when uninterruptible power shows its value for businesses that have thought ahead.

Increasingly, weather patterns of old are giving way to new and unexpected weather conditions, and ensuring that business functions as close to normal during these times can be crucial.

Uninterruptible power plays a big role in ensuring that business keeps humming, because most businesses do not have the luxury of taking a few days off while electrical crews fix power to businesses.

While most firms will not have full power generators of their own, having even partial power can be enough to keep critical systems such as point-of-sale kiosks running.

There’s also the need to have an assurance that power outages do not take down business systems before systems can be shut down properly and key files pulled to external systems such as laptops and smartphones. If the power goes out suddenly, like it did in Myrtle Beach, servers and sensitive data can be compromised if there is not a UPS to allow for a proper shutdown.

And with such backup power, employees also can grab the information they will need while they wait out the power outage.