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Insights > Winter ready: Entergy Mississippi prepared for colder weather ahead
Winter ready: Entergy Mississippi prepared for colder weather ahead
01/05/2024
Critical systems and infrastructure prepared across the grid
Cooler temps are starting to arrive in Mississippi. Even in areas where extremely cold temperatures are not persistent, it's still important to be ready for freezing and inclement weather, which can move in quickly. Entergy Mississippi is prepared for winter temperatures and wants customers to be ready as well.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center, El Nino will remain in place across the winter season for the first time in four years. The expected results will be wetter and cooler winter months this year, bringing much-needed drought relief to our service area. Temperatures overall are expected to be a few degrees cooler this winter.
Entergy Mississippi is prepared for winter weather
Last year, January and February brought major winter weather events to parts of our service area, with high winds, freezing rains, and ice accumulation. February and December of 2022 saw similar conditions, and the winter season of 2021 saw the coldest outbreak in the U.S. in more than 30 years.
While weather can be unpredictable, we remain storm ready no matter the season.
Entergy Mississippi has performed necessary winterization measures and other seasonal assessments on our power plants, transmission lines and facilities, and any other equipment and assets that can be affected by the cold. This includes inspecting and maintaining substations and transmission lines and testing equipment to identify any potential equipment performance issues.
When a weather threat arises, Entergy Mississippi ramps up support:
- We use forecasts and computer models based on experience with previous storms to predict an estimated number and duration of outages that could possibly occur.
- Based on those estimates, the company calls on restoration workers from around the country to restore power as safely and quickly as possible for our customers.
- Entergy Mississippi continuously plans and improves the process of assessing damage, positioning personnel in the right place with the required materials to restore power as safely and quickly as possible.
- We take steps to maintain and control vegetation across our service area, completing annual clearing of right-of-way areas to minimize the impact from fallen trees or branches following a storm.
- Prior to storms impacting our area, vegetation crews perform pre-storm patrols of circuits to mitigate any imminent threats within the right of way.
- Our year-round storm preparations include the vegetation management program and the targeted “ground to sky” vegetation trimming, which removes tree limbs that would normally have been above the power line.
- We also use artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to help predict when trimming may be needed.
Customers should prepare now
Being prepared for possible winter weather can help keep you safe. Get ready before weather threatens your area by having an emergency plan in place. Find safekeeping resources on our Storm Center:
- Get prepared: Make a plan, make a kit.
- Prepare your home: Winterize inside and out.
- Your mobile phone: A lifeline during a disaster.
- Stay informed: Download the app, report an outage.
- Stay safe: Safety after the storm.
- Generator safety: Know the hazards.
- Gas safety: Know the signs.
- Extreme cold safety: Indoor and outdoor tips.
Entergy Mississippi encourages its customers to verify their contact information in their online myEntergy account before severe weather strikes, so you receive our notifications. If a storm impacts your area, you can report an outage quickly and easily through our digital options – using either our free mobile app, online at myEntergy.com, or by texting OUT to 36778.
