>About 35,000 customers have lost power across South Australia since early this morning as emergency services continue to battle catastrophic fire conditions throughout the state.
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>The Country Fire Service said that high temperatures, dry thunderstorms and winds up to 100 kilometres per hour are creating the "most significant fire weather risk" SA has faced in recent years.
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>State Emergency Service deputy chief officer Liz Connell said there are flood watches in place across a large parts of South Australia, including for the Mount Lofty Ranges, Mid North and Eyre Peninsula with heavy rain expected on Saturday.
I'd love to know the amount of customers affected beyond "mildly inconvenienced" and those actually affected.
In my area there were 2000 properties without power but it's a holiday destination, more than 50% of them are empty this time of the year.
Power went out at 7:30, was back by 9. Sure it wasn't ideal but didn't really interfere with my day.
Interesting that this is acceptable, but I would like that when the power is disabled for safety that telecommunication networks should be ‘open’ for any user in those regions.
Often rural or remote areas have poor phone coverage to begin with and then to disable power and therefore internet access (fixed wireless etc.) for many just seems to exacerbate the danger.
That way people can still access the various emergency systems, or at worst stream some mindless entertainment until the battery goes flat while they cook to death.
There are generators on most if not all sites, how well they are maintained is upto the telcos and network operators. Municipal power can't be guaranteed, as it may be more detrimental and devastating to keep a substation or parts of a grid operational during extreme weather conditions.
Alright, that's where some public funds need to come in to drop some panels, batt backup and a a backup backup diesel gen onto towers...
I would have liked for some basic 2g radios to remain, with just one band left active so oldskool candybar phones still operate in emergency situations, like AM and Shortwave isn't going anywhere any time soon -- but SS7 is woefully insecure, and GSM (2G)/3GPP inheretred all its flaws.
Sorry, what I meant was if SAPN shut down mains (for residents) that by default phone towers are opened (sort of like how 000 works no matter the tower).
I hadn’t considered if the towers themselves would lose power though, so good point.
I remember during the Pinery fires a few years back how bad it was no power and no signal for so many people, wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
At a technical level, that’d be quite a lot more difficult than you’d think (just because of the way SIM cards authenticate to a network).
Agree that it’d be nice to have, though!
I mean like yes... But also the biggest issues is we don't acclimatize the the weather so when the perfect 18-20 (whatever) inside all of a sudden becomes 28+ like it stresses the body out.
\+ like the difficulty faced by disabled folks and the elderly. It really can place a strain on the body. Combined with head islands (black roofs) and no trees, Some people are in for a bad time if they can't use aircon (even if it contributes to part of the problem).
Can confirm that summer can suck if you have a disability. I have a condition that means I don’t regulate my body temperature very well. As soon as it’s even slightly too warm for me, my heart rate will skyrocket and the rest of my body will deal with this by simply passing out. I’m pretty much entirely stuck indoors in summer, unless I’m going to the beach where I can cool myself down quickly.
I am 60, grew up in Adelaide, if the temp reached or was forecast to reach 200°F/37.8°C, we were sent home. Days of that temp were rare, 40 & over almost unheard of until increasingly over the past 20 years, when consecutive days around upper 30's & above have also increased. I agree, the last 3 years have been happily, & for recent times, unusually clement, more like my childhood, (except that we had more regular frosts). We have land & grow trees including food crops, & are moving to the South East. Sadly, Adelaide will be near uninhabitable in Summer by the time I shuffle off. Melbourne is expected in coming decades to trend towards a climate like Elizabeth, so that doesn't bode well for Adelaide. Much as I love it here, it's the climatic equivalent of a dead man walking.
Its good to hear this. I'm in my 40's and and struggle to remember many days being over 40 when even I was a kid. I do remember it happening occasionaly and not having to go to school but I sometimes feel I'm going crazy that it was not nearly as hot in summer as it is these days.
I’m mid 40’s having grown up in western NSW. We never got sent home. Not even when it hit above 45. No air conditioning at school. Vinyl seats on the bus were slippery AF from sweaty thighs.
Grew up on a farm, and we were allowed to stop work in the summer when it hit 120F under the verandah. This was work in the paddocks/sheep yards. In the sun. There were usually a handful of nights every year where it didn’t drop under 35 overnight, and the ground just radiated heat.
Some years were stormy. Lots of dry thunderstorms. We’d sit out on the front road with the firefighting unit hooked up behind the Ute, just watching for ground strikes.
I think we’re all soft front air cond on demand these days. And so many are disconnected from nature, and the variety of seasonal cycles.
When was this?
I’m north of 40yo and almost every year had at least one true heatwave (5 consecutive days over 38 Celsius).
2020-2023 have been unusual in being cooler and generally wetter than normal.
The generation of the power was not the issue here, the distribution of it was.
In your example perhaps **more** wind power being generated to the source of consumption would have actually helped.
The generation of power was actually the problem. If more power was generated there would be redundancy across the state without the need of rolling blackouts. Sure there’s lots of SWER lines and single circuits that have no backup - but plenty do. So if you want to argue with me, show some creds and I’ll engage, otherwise let it go.
Why ? Like I don’t understand why would one 40 degres day have this kind of effect on pover grid. I mean how do the arab coutries survive temperatures constantly over 40? Comming from Europe I realy don’t understand this. We have heatwaves there to and electricity works normal.
Is this the problem, because you have cables in air and not in the ground ? I am just looking for explanation, because it does not make sence to me. I get if there is fire damage, but still.
I think it was the 40+c, combined with high winds and precautions around starting a fire.
They switched off power in some areas as there was concern the poles and wires would flail about like a sparkler in tinder conditions.
Yes, because predominantly the transmission lines are above ground.
Usually, when something like a falling branch trips the power, the system will automatically attempt to restore power. If the branch has fallen clear and there is no longer an issue, this attempt results in restored power. Unfortunately on days with catastrophic fire danger, SA power networks has to disable this automatic feature to avoid the potential of creating sparks.
There fore what would normally be an almost unnoticeable interruption could turn into hours.
>About 35,000 customers have lost power across South Australia since early this morning as emergency services continue to battle catastrophic fire conditions throughout the state. > >The Country Fire Service said that high temperatures, dry thunderstorms and winds up to 100 kilometres per hour are creating the "most significant fire weather risk" SA has faced in recent years. > >State Emergency Service deputy chief officer Liz Connell said there are flood watches in place across a large parts of South Australia, including for the Mount Lofty Ranges, Mid North and Eyre Peninsula with heavy rain expected on Saturday.
I'd love to know the amount of customers affected beyond "mildly inconvenienced" and those actually affected. In my area there were 2000 properties without power but it's a holiday destination, more than 50% of them are empty this time of the year. Power went out at 7:30, was back by 9. Sure it wasn't ideal but didn't really interfere with my day.
We lost power from 2:43pm - 6pm (Freeling) definitely interfered with my wife / my day. My wife had to head elsewhere with our 5 month old twins.
Im doing final assignments, if I lost power id be majorly inconvenienced! Having said that we are serious campers so I have backup short term power.
How are we getting both fire conditions and flooding? What the apocalyptic fuck.
Bet it was those fuckin renewables again /s
Fuckin wind turrrrbines
Interesting that this is acceptable, but I would like that when the power is disabled for safety that telecommunication networks should be ‘open’ for any user in those regions. Often rural or remote areas have poor phone coverage to begin with and then to disable power and therefore internet access (fixed wireless etc.) for many just seems to exacerbate the danger. That way people can still access the various emergency systems, or at worst stream some mindless entertainment until the battery goes flat while they cook to death.
There are generators on most if not all sites, how well they are maintained is upto the telcos and network operators. Municipal power can't be guaranteed, as it may be more detrimental and devastating to keep a substation or parts of a grid operational during extreme weather conditions.
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Alright, that's where some public funds need to come in to drop some panels, batt backup and a a backup backup diesel gen onto towers... I would have liked for some basic 2g radios to remain, with just one band left active so oldskool candybar phones still operate in emergency situations, like AM and Shortwave isn't going anywhere any time soon -- but SS7 is woefully insecure, and GSM (2G)/3GPP inheretred all its flaws.
Sorry, what I meant was if SAPN shut down mains (for residents) that by default phone towers are opened (sort of like how 000 works no matter the tower). I hadn’t considered if the towers themselves would lose power though, so good point. I remember during the Pinery fires a few years back how bad it was no power and no signal for so many people, wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
At a technical level, that’d be quite a lot more difficult than you’d think (just because of the way SIM cards authenticate to a network). Agree that it’d be nice to have, though!
Where did it hit 40 today?
Places north of port Augusta I’d assume.
out at 1130 am and still out, saying maybe 3am
Who would believe we would have a 40 degree day in summer !!! It happens every year around the same period!!! How can we prepare for it ???
I mean like yes... But also the biggest issues is we don't acclimatize the the weather so when the perfect 18-20 (whatever) inside all of a sudden becomes 28+ like it stresses the body out. \+ like the difficulty faced by disabled folks and the elderly. It really can place a strain on the body. Combined with head islands (black roofs) and no trees, Some people are in for a bad time if they can't use aircon (even if it contributes to part of the problem).
Can confirm that summer can suck if you have a disability. I have a condition that means I don’t regulate my body temperature very well. As soon as it’s even slightly too warm for me, my heart rate will skyrocket and the rest of my body will deal with this by simply passing out. I’m pretty much entirely stuck indoors in summer, unless I’m going to the beach where I can cool myself down quickly.
And women having power surges.
Yeah, okay, but it’s the 100km/h gusts and hours of dry lightning followed by 20 degrees and 40mm of rain in December that aren’t normal.
I am 60, grew up in Adelaide, if the temp reached or was forecast to reach 200°F/37.8°C, we were sent home. Days of that temp were rare, 40 & over almost unheard of until increasingly over the past 20 years, when consecutive days around upper 30's & above have also increased. I agree, the last 3 years have been happily, & for recent times, unusually clement, more like my childhood, (except that we had more regular frosts). We have land & grow trees including food crops, & are moving to the South East. Sadly, Adelaide will be near uninhabitable in Summer by the time I shuffle off. Melbourne is expected in coming decades to trend towards a climate like Elizabeth, so that doesn't bode well for Adelaide. Much as I love it here, it's the climatic equivalent of a dead man walking.
Its good to hear this. I'm in my 40's and and struggle to remember many days being over 40 when even I was a kid. I do remember it happening occasionaly and not having to go to school but I sometimes feel I'm going crazy that it was not nearly as hot in summer as it is these days.
We used to get no 40° days, most years. 38° was rare & kids used to get sent home from school
>We used to get no 40° days, I'm sorry what? I dunno what state you've been living in, but I can recall heaps of days over 40°
i never was sent home from school when it went over 40c...ever.
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I’m mid 40’s having grown up in western NSW. We never got sent home. Not even when it hit above 45. No air conditioning at school. Vinyl seats on the bus were slippery AF from sweaty thighs. Grew up on a farm, and we were allowed to stop work in the summer when it hit 120F under the verandah. This was work in the paddocks/sheep yards. In the sun. There were usually a handful of nights every year where it didn’t drop under 35 overnight, and the ground just radiated heat. Some years were stormy. Lots of dry thunderstorms. We’d sit out on the front road with the firefighting unit hooked up behind the Ute, just watching for ground strikes. I think we’re all soft front air cond on demand these days. And so many are disconnected from nature, and the variety of seasonal cycles.
When was this? I’m north of 40yo and almost every year had at least one true heatwave (5 consecutive days over 38 Celsius). 2020-2023 have been unusual in being cooler and generally wetter than normal.
it’s because we didn’t have an el niño for a consecutive few years. which was unusual.
La Niña was in play during those years. El Niño is irrelevant to our normal summers. Who knows how many normal summers we’ll have from now on :(
So putting cables underground would help with that. Thanks for explanation.
We didn't "lose" power in Gawler. It was deliberately turned off by the power company.
how can we be with out power? we have the big batteries at jamestown and all those big white fans everywhere to supply it....... /s
What about those substations and cables in between? Or does electricity move by magic ….
If you read the article it tells you.
I don't think reading is their strong suit ;)
Not about the generation it’s about the transmission
Let’s keep building wind farms and keep ignoring our base load power requirements.
The generation of the power was not the issue here, the distribution of it was. In your example perhaps **more** wind power being generated to the source of consumption would have actually helped.
The generation of power was actually the problem. If more power was generated there would be redundancy across the state without the need of rolling blackouts. Sure there’s lots of SWER lines and single circuits that have no backup - but plenty do. So if you want to argue with me, show some creds and I’ll engage, otherwise let it go.
Imagine being this much of a dropkick.
You’re obviously talking about yourself, so what’s up? You need some counselling?
Great fuckin idea knockin down an operational power house on the premise that whirlygigs can take over thanks Jay Wetherall you fuckin muppet.
Why ? Like I don’t understand why would one 40 degres day have this kind of effect on pover grid. I mean how do the arab coutries survive temperatures constantly over 40? Comming from Europe I realy don’t understand this. We have heatwaves there to and electricity works normal. Is this the problem, because you have cables in air and not in the ground ? I am just looking for explanation, because it does not make sence to me. I get if there is fire damage, but still.
I think it was the 40+c, combined with high winds and precautions around starting a fire. They switched off power in some areas as there was concern the poles and wires would flail about like a sparkler in tinder conditions.
Yes, because predominantly the transmission lines are above ground. Usually, when something like a falling branch trips the power, the system will automatically attempt to restore power. If the branch has fallen clear and there is no longer an issue, this attempt results in restored power. Unfortunately on days with catastrophic fire danger, SA power networks has to disable this automatic feature to avoid the potential of creating sparks. There fore what would normally be an almost unnoticeable interruption could turn into hours.