Wet snow accretion on overhead lines with French report of experience

This article deals with the accretion mechanisms of wet snow observed both on a stranded conductor sample in wind tunnel conditions and on real power lines in natural weather conditions. It summarizes the theory and practical observations. Report of experience from France are given in order to demonstrate the efficiency of this passive preventive method based on the increase of torsional stiffness of conductors and to introduce wet snow risk map and countermeasures in France.