Weather is being blamed for a handful of power outages over the weekend.

It was likely a build-up of snow on the main transmission line to Faro that knocked power out for some customers early Sunday morning, Yukon Energy spokesman Guy Morgan said this morning.

Morgan said power to Riverdale and points north to Carmacks, Pelly Crossing, Faro and Ross River was knocked out at 2:13, but most were back on the grid no more than 41 minutes later.

Faro and Ross River, however, remained on back-up diesel generation until early Sunday afternoon, said Morgan, Yukon Energy's manager of system control and transmission distribution.

He said while restoring power to most areas was successful fairly quickly, the initial attempt to re-energize the line between Carmacks and Faro failed.

When that happens, he said, the line must be visually inspected to check for visible damage before a second attempt is made.

Morgan said the line was flown Sunday morning. When no problems were seen, there was a second and successful attempt to re-energize at 1:25 p.m. yesterday.

When there's a build-up of snow on the power lines, with changing weather patterns snow will start dropping off, sometimes causing the lines to swing. If they touch, they'll knock out the system, he explained.

Morgan said a large build-up of snow can also cause sagging and the possibility of power lines touching.

Jay Massie, supervisor of operations for Yukon Electrical Co. Ltd., said it was likely snow and changing weather that caused three power outages south of downtown Whitehorse on Saturday.

Power to Wolf Creek went out around 2 p.m. for about a half-hour and two other isolated outages down the Carcross Road lasted for about an hour, he said.