Two days of PG&E power shut-offs

Starting Tuesday, PG&E shut off electricity to around 600,000 customers across California to prevent a potential wildfire, due in part to forecast "gusty winds." Here's what the wind looked like when the Bay Area went dark.

Oct. 11, 2019 2:00 p.m.

Legend

Forecast shut-off zone

Actual shut-off zones

< 100 customers

100 - 499

500 - 999

≥ 1,000

About this projectWind data comes from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction every six hours. Readings may differ from ground-level sensor stations. Read more about the wind model here. Real-time outage data and Potential Public Safety Power Shut-off zone data come from PG&E. Due to instability of PG&E's servers over the last week, some of the data times are approximate. Historical PG&E data provided by Simon Willison.

Complete coverage of PG&E power shut-offs

Frustration over shut-offs as some areas have no power - and no wind

Meteorologists, atmospheric scientists and PG&E officials say the answer is a complicated formula