Extreme Weather Is Driving More US Power Outages, Studies Show
The US experienced twice as many weather-related power outages from 2014 to 2023 as in the previous decade. But they aren’t evenly distributed.
A fallen tree rests on a power line in the College Point, Queens, New York after Tropical Storm Isaias battered the region in 2020.
Photographer: Angus Mordant/BloombergFor decades, residents of eastern Queens in New York City have complained that they’re more likely to lose power when extreme weather hits, even as lights in other parts of the city stay on. A new study that looks at power outages across New York state suggests they’re right. Its broader conclusion — that different areas, even within the same neighborhood, can be more vulnerable to power outages — aren’t just limited to New York.
“We’re focusing on New York state, but power outages are a growing problem nationally,” says Nina Flores, a doctoral student at Columbia University and lead author on the study, which was published Wednesday in PLOS Climate. She points to both the nation’s aging electric grid and damages from storms made increasingly severe by climate change.