[TowerTalk] Telephone Pole

[Dale L. Martin]

>
>Take a look at some of the pictures from the major ice storm in northern NY
>last year and you will see thousands of the poles, all wired together and
>thus guyed together, snapped like little twigs because of the ice load on
>the wires.


Being down here on the balmy gulf coast (it was in the 70's today), I can't
really speak from a wide based experience with the ice events of our more
northerly and colder neighbors.  However, I can speak to my experience in
Seattle a couple of years ago at Christmas/New Years when a really big (for
them) snowstorm hit, left a foot or
so of snow, and was followed by a big freeze ( and a subsequent warming trend
and flooding--all within a week!!!  Whatta place!).  My only recollection of
problems with power poles was that they snapped when the wires they were
supporting were loaded with ice themselves and with the frozen branches that
snapped off of the nearby trees.


Even then, there seemed to be very few poles that were severly affected.


Also, I've been treated in my time in Houston (37 years) to seeing firsthand
lightning strikes on power poles.  Actually, the pole pigs were the things that
suffered.  The poles seemed to be unscathed (at least, from my position in the
supposed safety of my car in traffic).

73,
dale, kg5u








--
FAQ on WWW:               http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions:              towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests:  towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems:                 owner-towertalk@contesting.com
Search:                   http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm