Frost buildup on power lines affecting service in parts of Saskatchewan: SaskPower

More than two weeks of overnight and early-morning fog have combined with cold temperatures to result in ice forming on trees and power lines.

It may look nice, but it’s causing outages in some parts of Saskatchewan.

SaskPower’s Joel Cherry said for most of January, there has been significant frost buildup in some areas, and sporadic power outages. He didn’t have an exact number, but said thousands of people have been affected this month alone.

“The first buildup of frost was kind of in the first week of the month, and we had a couple of outages on Jan. 6. And then again more recently as the frost built up, we’ve had a couple more outages we’ve dealt with as they’ve occurred,” he said.

The first outage occurred in Moose Jaw, then others followed in Fort Qu’Appelle and in some rural areas around Saskatoon, Regina and Kindersley.

“It’s a pretty widespread issue around the province right now,” added Cherry.

Typically, he said the wind will ease the frost as it builds up on trees and power lines. But it has been pretty calm and cloudy most of the time, allowing the icy conditions to last a lot longer than they typically would.

In some areas, there’s so much ice on power lines that it can cause “cross arms,” or parts of the infrastructure, to break. Trees that are weighed down also present a problem.

“We have had cases where trees have come into contact with lines because they’re so heavily weighed down with frost and ice,” Cherry added.

Sometimes wind blowing over icy power lines can also cause them to “gallop,” or pull up and down, causing the lines to pull loose from poles or towers.

Up until this point, there haven’t been any unusual safety concerns for workers fixing the lines. But Cherry said anyone who may come across a downed power line should always stay at least 10 metres away.

Cherry said the last time there were widespread power outages because of heavy frost buildup was in 2018.