Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

New England is no stranger to harsh winters, but an early Thanksgiving Nor’easter that pummeled the region last week caught several states by surprise with widespread power outages. The situation shows that once again, preparedness is crucial in extreme climates.

The United States saw early-season, wet snow in the Northeast Thanksgiving eve, which left hundreds of thousands of families without electricity over the holiday and beyond, including a preponderance of victims in New England. The state that was the most affected was New Hampshire, which saw more than 18 inches of snow in some places. That left power crews scrambling and families shivering instead of enjoying turkey and stuffing, with 200,000 residents in the dark. But New Hampshire wasn’t alone: 100,000 Central Maine Power residents went without power, as did households all over the region.

"Power is out at parents’ house in Maine, so my mom is chopping breadcrumbs with a flashlight," Brooklyn copy editor Kelly Gordon tweeted, as reported by CNN. "My mom would never let no lights (or) no heat keep her from Thanksgiving prep work," she said.

New Englanders may be hardy stock, but a better power management plan in the form of a generator or uninterruptible power source (UPS) could have helped many households avoid a Pilgrim-era lack of creature comforts. And for businesses, continued power outages over the weekend cut into revenues and profits.

“This kind of severe weather, be it thunderstorms or snowstorms, can have a huge impact on businesses,” Minuteman Power Technologies noted in a blog. “With a higher probability for power outages caused by lightning or downed power lines from snow and ice, businesses are at more risk for downtime. Particularly with the holiday season just around the corner, businesses cannot afford any sort of downtime, which is where Minuteman comes to the rescue.”

The company also pointed out that while this year November brought snow, in 2012 it was Superstorm Sandy. So, there are myriad dangers to consider this time of year.

“A very unique thing about this lovely month of November, is that it exists in both hurricane season and winter storm season,” Minuteman said. “With hurricane season ending November 30th and temperatures dropping across the country, the possibility of storms is incredibly high. Both homes and businesses need to stay protected and keep things up and running, regardless of what the weather might throw at them.”