Massive winter storm batters US, knocks out power ahead of brutal freeze
By Scott DiSavino
(Reuters) -A massive winter storm moving across the eastern half of the U.S. on Tuesday knocked out power to over 636,000 homes and businesses in 12 states ahead of a brutal freeze expected to blanket the region starting this weekend.
The hardest hit states so far were North Carolina with around 170,000 power outages, Pennsylvania with over 106,000 outages and New York with about 67,000 outages, according to data from PowerOutage.us.
The biggest power companies in those states are units of Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) in North Carolina, First Energy in Pennsylvania, and Con Edison in New York.
Extreme weather is a reminder of the February freeze in 2021 that left millions in Texas and other U.S. Central states without power, water and heat for days, and a winter storm in December 2022 — known as Elliott in the energy industry — that almost caused the collapse of power and natural gas systems in parts of the eastern half of the country.
The current storm is covering most of the country east of the Mississippi River, according to AccuWeather.com. It is moving toward the U.S. Northeast.
The storm is coming ahead of what will likely be the nation's coldest weather since December 2022, according to data from financial firm LSEG.
LSEG projected gas demand, used to heat about half the homes in the country, would reach a daily record of 170.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Jan. 15 and 173.7 bcfd on Jan. 16.
Traders noted it would be unusual for gas use to hit a record on Jan. 15 since it is the U.S. Martin Luther King Day holiday when many businesses and government offices will be shut for a long weekend.
If correct, gas demand, including exports, on Jan. 15 and 16 would top the current daily record of 162.5
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