On Thursday, May 25th the Miner TV broadcast was cancelled due to a power surge the day before. Around 2:20 PM on May 24th students and teachers reported having the lights flicker on and off as well as the school wifi being shut down for a short time. The next morning in the Miner TV broadcast room was unable to connect to the school’s servers which are used to broadcast the morning announcements and news to the entire school. Due to the servers being down for that day, Miner TV was unable to show a special video dedicated to the senior class and their school events. Ryder Gini, a senior at Bishop Manogue, was not at the school that day. When we interviewed him he was surprised and sad to hear that the video could not be played.

Power surges are common during thunderstorms, and the large amount of snowfall this winter has caused humidity to be above average in Nevada. Thunderstorms have been happening every day so far, the increase in heat and humidity has caused the snow from the sierra Nevada to melt. A power surge is when a large amount of power enters the power grid, which is usually the result of a lightning strike or a malfunction in the power grid. Power surges can cause devices and computers connected to power to overload and break. In this case, the surge caused the lights to come on and off for a second, as well as reset or even damage school’s servers.

Thankfully the servers were restored and broadcasting resumed on Tuesday, May 30th with the servers being restored and reset over the weekend. The computers used to teleprompt the news anchors at Miner TV were reset, so the slides and data that was connected to the computers had to be redone. Another video dedicated to the end of the year and the seniors will be played at the final Miner TV broadcast. Power surges are usually harmless to people, but during a thunderstorm it might be a smart idea to unplug appliances and back up your computer.