Nearly 400 Montgomery County PECO customers still without power as of Tuesday afternoon
More than 100 calls were dispatched to Montgomery County’s emergency communications division as wind pounded the greater Philadelphia area during a 24-hour period.
Road obstructions and outdoor electrical fires were the highest concentration of weather-related calls, with 83 road obstructions and 25 outdoor electrical fires recorded from 12 p.m. Monday to 12 p.m. Tuesday across the county, according to Todd Stieritz, deputy director of public affairs for the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety.
The high winds knocked out power to PECO customers across the region, with some 383 households still without power in Montgomery County as of Tuesday afternoon, according to PECO’s outage map. Of those, PECO reported 137 outages in Whitemarsh Township, 79 outages in Lower Merion Township, 67 in Whitpain Township, 33 outages in Cheltenham Township, 22 outages in Perkiomen Township, five outages in Conshohocken, along with fewer than five outages reported in Pottstown, along with Limerick, Montgomery, Skippack, Upper Dublin, Upper Merion, Upper Moreland, Upper Providence, and Worcester townships.
The relentless wind gusts ranged from 40-to-45 mph across several localities, including Gilbertsville, King of Prussia, Willow Grove, and Worcester, according to Nick Guzzo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly, New Jersey office.
The “higher gusts ranged from yesterday afternoon to early this morning,” Guzzo said, as a wind advisory remained in effect until 1 p.m. Tuesday.
A weather statement issued early Tuesday morning warned that “west winds [of] 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph” for “portions of northern Delaware, New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania.”
“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result,” the National Weather Service states.Winds had not died down completely Tuesday morning as the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly, New Jersey office recorded winds at 14 knots and gusts at 37 miles per hour in Pottstown and winds at 18 knots and gusts at 29 miles per hour in Blue Bell as of 10 a.m.
Looking ahead, temperatures will stay below freezing, with a high of 28 degrees and a low of 16 degrees, according to weather reports. Forecasters noted “it will still be cold with lows in the teens to low 20s” and wind chills “in the teens.
“Minimal snow accumulation is possible, generally a dusting or so, given how dry it will be,” the National Weather Service states.
