Surprise US Northeast snowstorm leaves over 300,000 customers without power

A late-season winter storm system swept through the Northeast US April 19, bringing strong winds and over a foot of snow to some areas, leaving more than 300,000 customers without electricity across five states.

There were 307,305 customers without power in New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire at around 10 am ET, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks and aggregates outages.

New York had the most customers without power at over 200,000 in the morning, though that number had decreased to about 196,000 customers by early afternoon.

Power demand in New York came in above the morning forecast, despite the outages, according to New York Independent System Operator data. With a morning peak power demand forecast of about 16.4 GW, actual demand peaked slightly above 17 GW.

Real-time power prices were highly variable as of early afternoon, with the highest prices seen in the Capital Region NYISO Zone F where they reached $172.73/MWh around 1pm, according to NYISO data.

Power prices were at about $140/MWh in New York City Zone J and Long Island Zone K around that time. Zone J real-time on-peak power prices have averaged $64.23/MWh since March, according to NYISO data.

Power prices in the regions impacted by the storm where electrical service was disrupted were much lower, around $10/MWh. Central Region Zone C prices were about $5/MWh around 3:30pm.

Some power to customers had been restored around that time, though New York still had over 186,000 outages and Pennsylvania had almost 44,000 by late afternoon.

With the weather expected to clear and temperatures expected to rise throughout the week, NYISO power demand was forecast to reach 16.53 GW on April 20; 16.40 GW on April 21; and 15.75 GW on April 22.

Winter Storm Warnings for heavy snow were in effect April 18 across areas with higher elevations in the Central New York, Mid-Hudson, Mohawk Valley, North Country, and Southern Tier regions, which includes the Catskill Mountains, the governor's office said in a statement.

These areas were expected to see the heaviest snowfall with up to a foot of heavy, wet snow in parts of Central New York and the Mid-Hudson regions, as well as potential snowfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour in the North Country.

"Given the potential impacts of this system, New Yorkers should prepare for potential downed tree limbs and power outages in the areas of the heaviest snowfall, even if surface accumulations are minimal," the statement said.

"As New Yorkers, we know all too well that winter can last beyond March, and this week we're preparing for a storm expected to bring up to a foot of snow in some parts of the state, making for a messy commute on Tuesday," Governor Kathy Hochul said.

"State agencies are ready to respond to this late season storm system and we are urging New Yorkers to keep an eye on the forecast for local impacts and take precautions if traveling on Tuesday," Hochul said.