August 14, 2003: The Biggest Blackout Ever

August 14, 2003: A blackout strikes the Northeastern U.S. at 4:10 PM. In New Jersey, where I was, there was a flickering of power, but no more, so it didn’t matter much. But in nearby New York City, power was lost for a few hours. Parts of New England, Canada, and even places as far west as Michigan lost power for a time.

The blackout's cause was a software bug in the alarm system at the control room of FirstEnergy, based in Akron, Ohio. The bug rendered operators unaware of the need to redistribute load after overloaded transmission lines drooped into foliage. What should have been a manageable local blackout cascaded into the collapse of much of the Northeast regional electricity distribution system.

The blackout affected 55 million people, including 10 million in Canada. Most places restored power by midnight, within 7 hours; some as early as 6:00 PM, within 2 hours.

Unlike in 1977, when the last blackout led to the worst night of looting in the City’s history, people worked together in this one. Some even used the lights of their cellphones as flashlights.

New York City has not had a major blackout since. (UPDATE: There was a brief, 20-minute blackout, shortly after midnight on December 15, 2023.)

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August 14, 2003 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-5 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Andy Pettitte was the winning pitcher. Jorge Posada went 2-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Derek Jeter went 1-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 7-4 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta, 7-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins, 6-4 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 7-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-1 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum). Bill Mueller's sacrifice fly brought the winning run home in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.

* And the New York Mets, the Colorado Rockies, the Montreal Expos, the San Francisco Giants, the Kansas City Royals and the Tampa Bay Rays were not scheduled. Apparently, the blackout didn't affect any games.