Electric utilities across North America are under growing pressure to manage the consequences of extreme weather, and a new generation of high-resolution modeling tools is changing how they respond. Electric utilities are facing more frequent storms, extreme temperatures, high-wind events, flooding, and compounding hazards across their service territories. Faster restoration and safer operations depend on timely, consolidated intelligence. Utilities need to go beyond knowing what the weather will do and understand what it will do to the grid, and where impacts are most likely.
The financial stakes are enormous. About 80% of large-scale power outages in the past two decades can be blamed on storms. Hurricane Helene in 2024 alone impacted several Southeastern utilities, with recovery filings exceeding $3 billion.
The new wave of tools allows utilities to anticipate problems days in advance. High-resolution outage and flood modeling can be used to anticipate grid impacts days before a storm arrives, helping crews and resources be staged in the right places at the right time.
Researchers are also scaling up the work. The University at Albany and University of Connecticut are developing a North American Forecasting Model to predict storm-related outages, reduce restoration times, and strengthen grid resilience across the US and Canada, backed by a National Science Foundation grant.
