BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Lehigh Valley utilities were responding to clusters of power outages across the region Monday.
Representatives for FirstEnergy Corp. (Met-Ed) and PPL Electric said weather has played a role, with wind gusts as high as 30 mph in the area Sunday night.
Gusts of 20 mph were reported between midnight and 4:15 a.m., according to data from the National Weather Service.
The Easton area had pockets of outages, including 364 Met-Ed customers affected off South Delaware Drive due to tree damage in the area.
Additional outages for Met-Ed customers in the area included at least 66 customers out near Morgan Hill Road, along with scattered outages in West Easton still under investigation.
“These outages can be attributed to high winds and heavy rains in the evening and overnight hours,” said Todd Meyers, spokesman for FirstEnergy.
Meyers said the utility restored power to about 4,000 Met-Ed customers in and around Northampton County, with about 480 or so remaining without electric service around 10 a.m. Monday.
Meyers said more than 300 of those customers were impacted by damage to three poles when a tree fell into lines at 10 p.m. Sunday near South Delaware Drive in Easton, which reportedly closed the road as well.
Met-Ed hoped to have repairs completed by late Monday afternoon, Meyers said.
A PPL spokeswoman also attributedoutages in Bethlehem Township and Center Valley to weather.
“The outages overnight were mainly caused by windy conditions, some at 30 mph in higher elevations. We are expecting some scattered winds today, and as always, we are prepared to respond,” PPL said.
A blustery New Year’s Day ahead
"An elongated arctic high will be building into our west (on Wednesday) as it extends from the Canadian Rockies into the central US,” the latest NWS forecast discussion said.
“This will help usher a cold front through the area with a very strong pressure gradient also setting up. Expect westerly winds increasing to 15 to 25 mph, gusting 30 to 40 mph or so, meaning not too far off from wind advisory levels.”
The blustery conditions will continue Wednesday night, resulting in lows Thursday morning getting into the low 20s.
High temperature through the back of the week will generally be in the mid 30s, the weather service said.
