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Hundreds of thousands remain without power as more snow is headed to Dallas-Fort Worth on heels of record cold

February 17, 2021 Dallas News Comments Off on Hundreds of thousands remain without power as more snow is headed to Dallas-Fort Worth on heels of record cold 105 Views

As Dallas-Fort Worth notched a new record low temperature of minus 2 degrees Tuesday morning — making it the coldest day in North Texas in 72 years — the power grid was still struggling to heat the homes of hundreds of thousands of North Texans.

Even though electricity had been restored at least temporarily to many customers, more than 3 million were reported to be without power about 10 p.m. as a result of increased demand in the extreme weather conditions, according to Poweroutage.us.

Oncor Electric Delivery reported more than 24,000 outages about the same time, affecting 900,000 customers. About 240,000 of those customers were in Dallas County and about 200,000 were in Tarrant County, though those numbers fluctuated by the hour.

The widespread outages began at 1:25 a.m. Monday when the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the agency that oversees the state’s power grid, instructed transmission companies such as Oncor to limit power availability.

The outages were originally planned as rolling blackouts but have lasted far longer in many areas, and it remained unclear when many Texans who had been without electricity for hours would get their power back.

A City of Dallas Mobility and Street Services truck spreads de-icing materials downtown a winter storm brought snow and freezing temperatures to North Texas on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Dallas. Another winter storm could dump 5 more inches of snow on Dallas-Fort Worth. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)

1/44A City of Dallas Mobility and Street Services truck spreads de-icing materials downtown a winter storm brought snow and freezing temperatures to North Texas on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in Dallas. Another winter storm could dump 5 more inches of snow on Dallas-Fort Worth. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

While some progress had been made in restoring power to Texans by the early afternoon, ERCOT did not have a prediction for when power would be fully restored.

Agency officials told state lawmakers only that it would be days before power is restored for all customers.

State Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, criticized ERCOT in a series of tweets for lack of preparation ahead of the weather.

“If we had known how the rolling blackouts were going to occur, then we could have reacted better,” Wu said. “I felt better prepared for [Hurricane] Harvey than this.”

Second winter storm on the way

After the area’s coldest morning since January 1949, the temperature at DFW International Airport rose to 18 degrees by 2 p.m. — the highest temperature since Sunday.

Temperatures were expected to rise into the 20s overnight, but another round of wintry weather was expected to hit North Texas late Tuesday into Wednesday — and probably add more snow to the 4 inches that was recorded Sunday at DFW Airport.

Dallas-Fort Worth could get 1 to 4 inches of snow from the next storm, while areas north and west of the area are likely to see 3 to 6 inches, according to David Bonnette, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

“There is a chance that light snow will linger across North Texas all day [Wednesday], which would bump up our forecast snow totals by about an inch or so,” he said.

For most of Dallas-Fort Worth, the precipitation was expected to begin as snow, then turn to sleet, then back to snow, Bonnette said. In areas farther south, freezing rain and ice are more likely than snow, which could further strain the area’s already struggling power infrastructure and cause tree damage, the Weather Service said in a winter storm warning.

“The ice threat is much lower the further north you go with a trace to light coating of ice possible along I-20 and the DFW metroplex,” Bonnette said.

While portions of Central Texas could see freezing rain, he said none was expected north of U.S. Highway 380.

In its second winter storm warning this week for all of Dallas-Fort Worth, scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, the Weather Service urged North Texans to avoid travel and warned that more power outages are possible.

A City of Dallas truck spreads de-icing materials on Walnut Hill Lane near North Central Expressway on Tuesday.
A City of Dallas truck spreads de-icing materials on Walnut Hill Lane near North Central Expressway on Tuesday.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

Icy streets

As temperatures stayed below freezing Tuesday, the sun did little to help melt accumulations of ice and snow on roadways.

The Weather Service warned that many North Texas roads were covered in black ice early Tuesday, making them even more dangerous than they were Monday.

Ahead of the second snowstorm, Texas Department of Transportation crews battled Tuesday’s frigid weather to remove snow and ice from roads and treat patches of ice that had refrozen overnight.

By noon Tuesday, TxDOT traffic cameras showed some portions of U.S. Highway 75 and Interstate 635 were clear or partially clear. But many less-traveled neighborhood and side streets had plenty of accumulation.

“If you have to be on the roads, drive to conditions, reduce speed and increase travel distance between your vehicle and others on the road,” TxDOT posted on Twitter.

Unsafe conditions

Power outages caused dangerous conditions for Texans as temperatures again plunged to extreme lows late Monday into early Tuesday, and officials warned people not to use generators indoors or run their cars in closed garages.

In North Texas, MedStar reported responding to about 24 calls an hour Tuesday — roughly double its average — for a total of 377 ambulance responses by 4 p.m. There were 44 calls related to hypothermia and nine patients treated for possible carbon monoxide

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