Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

One of the worst power outages I’ve ever experienced happened in autumn several years ago. I live in a small town in a rural area with lots of trees and many winding and twisty roads. My area makes for great foliage viewing but things can turn ugly very quickly if we get a spell of bad weather.

That was the case that year, when leaves had begun to fall off the trees, making roads slippery and wet. Many leaves were still on the trees, however, when we got a freak snowstorm that dropped several inches over our area. The result was heavy wet snow that weighed down the branches of trees with remaining foliage, causing them to sever power lines, block roads and wreak general havoc. My house went without power for several days and it was a bit of an adventure for us, heating with our fireplace and cooking only using our gas stove.

Business in the area didn’t fare as well, though, and things generally came to a halt. For those companies needing to stay up and running to conduct business, the storm was potentially devastating with many businesses closed down completely during the outage. Having uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) in place is an absolute must for any business, but particularly those in areas that are severely impacted by the weather.

And the forecasts are in for the fall and winter seasons, with heavy snowfall on tap for the Eastern part of the U.S., where I live and work. La Nina is set to follow El Nino, which ended in June, bringing with it unusually low ocean temperatures.  The end result could be increased tropical activity throughout hurricane season, followed by extreme cold and higher-than-average snowfall totals.

The forecast is great news for skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts, but spells trouble for businesses that need to stay up and running during a potentially large number of outages. Having proper UPS protection in place to ensure business systems are up and running, no matter what the weather is doing, is an absolute must for any organization.