Eversource Ready for An Active 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season

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BOSTON, Mass. — As the ocean waters churn along the east coast and another hurricane season begins, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting above-normal activity for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season.

Between June 1 and November 30, NOAA is forecasting a 60 percent chance of an above-normal season with 6-10 hurricanes having winds of 74 mph or higher and 3-5 major hurricanes with winds 111 mph or higher. With the changing climate increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather around the globe, including here in New England, Eversource is reminding customers to plan and always be prepared for severe weather. The energy company works year-round to safeguard the electric grid through upgrades, maintenance, and proactive vegetation management to ensure reliability for customers.  

"As we've seen in Massachusetts many times over the years, extreme weather can hit hard here causing significant damage just as it can anywhere else in the country, so we know how crucial it is to be prepared—especially during hurricane season," said Eversource President of Electric Operations in Massachusetts Doug Foley. "We've been meeting to discuss NOAA's hurricane season forecast and review and update storm response protocols accordingly, but we really prepare for storms year-round. We always monitor multiple forecasts and take steps to prepare, including having crews ready to go if a storm is heading our way so they can respond as quickly and safely as possible to get customers back on if they do lose power."

With trees causing more than 90 percent of power outages during storms, trimming and removing hazard trees that threaten overhead electric lines is fundamental to emergency preparedness and crucial to providing customers with reliable power in all types of weather. Eversource also reminds customers that homeowners are responsible for keeping branches away from the lower-voltage service wires connecting their homes to the main utility lines on the street. The energy company strongly recommends contacting a professional tree service to perform this work.

A worker proactively trims a tree in Massachusetts to help ensure reliable power for customers.

Eversource offers several simple tips and steps customers can take to help prepare for hurricane season at home. The energy company provides a storm safety checklist and encourages customers to always have an emergency plan in place, assemble a storm kit with essential items, plan a meeting place for family members and be ready to check on neighbors. Customers can also download Eversource's mobile app or sign up for the company's two-way texting to report and check outages in the event they do occur.

For all the latest storm information and updates, follow Eversource on X and Facebook. For more information on the energy company's emergency preparedness efforts and restoration process, visit Eversource.com.


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Dalton Considers Updating its Municipal Code

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The town is considering updating its original 18-year municipal code to 2026 standards. 
 
During a recent Select Board meeting, General Code New England account manager Zach Dumont outlined the 18- to-24 month process. 
 
General Code New England is a division of the International Code Council, which writes all the statewide building codes across the United States. For the last 18 years, the organization has been the codifier for municipalities. 
 
"We work with communities to build, maintain, and update your local municipal code. That is your collection of bylaws, ordinances, regulations, and any other legislation you've ever adopted," Dumont said. 
 
Once the project is complete, the town would have a fully updated set of books and an improved eCode360 site, he said. 
 
"The way the process would work is we would put together a scope of work, a timeline, a price point, and everything that we would want to touch or do as a part of the code project," Dumont said. 
 
When a municipal code is built, it has a general lifespan of about 15 to 20 years, and although that is a long time, it goes by very quickly, he said. 
 
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