Driving by the Powerlines and Sky
313 views · Published 2 July 2009 · 0:20 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: DRLibby · 2009 · Education
POWERLINES: Blackout: the simultaneous turning-off of all stage lighting... The Northeast Blackout of 2003 was a massive widespread power outage that occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Ontario, Canada on Thursday, August 14, 2003, at approximately 4:15 p.m. EDT The blackout affected an estimated 10 million people in Canada and 45 million people in eight U.S. states. It was a seasonally hot day (over 31 °C or 88 °F) across much of the affected regions... However, there was not the surge in crime that had been feared by many... In areas where power remained off after nightfall, the Milky Way and orbiting artificial satellites became visible to the naked eye in metropolitan areas where they cannot ordinarily be seen due to the effects of particulate air pollution and light pollution. Radio stations in the Windsor area took to referring to the incident as Power Meltdown 2003. Once terrorism had been ruled out as a cause, many stations switched back to normal programming following an address by President George W. Bush.
