[Conspiracy Guy]

In layman's simple terms.

The sun effects weather. I will bet that this turns out to be weather related. Heat causes huge consumption. Heat causes thundestorms which have lightning, A few lightning strikes in the grid can knock out a few transformers. Surges race about and next thing you know the whole distribution system goes wacko. This chaos can knock a station down.

BTW I was kidding about the sun blinking.

[mewzilla]

The problem is the cascade. Sure, part of the grid can be taken out, but the whole thing shouldn't start to go. And that's what happened. Even if lightning or an overload did cause part of the grid to go, that section should dropped out in such a way so that the cascade couldn't happen. If I understand this properly at any rate.

[Neets]

I agree with you Flurry about being weather related.

I posted on another thread about how we have been suffering through extreme humidity (from 85- 99% daily for 3 weeks straight) and fairly high temps (80's and ups) with thunderstorms on a nightly basis...the humidity broke the day before yesterday, but in it's place came even higher temps (90's plus) and those temps will remain through to today...

I have no doubt the 3 weeks of extreme weather on the east coast was a major contribution to this blackout event.