Texas Power Woes Linger as New England Girds for Deep Freeze

February 3, 2023by Ken Miller and David Sharp, Associated Press
Texas Power Woes Linger as New England Girds for Deep Freeze
An electrical transformer is coated in ice and icicles from a few days of rain and sleet, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Rising temperatures offered some hope Friday for frustrated Texans days after they lost power — and in many cases heat — in a deadly winter storm, while a new wave of frigid weather rolling into the Northeast led communities to close schools and open warming centers.

Wind chills in some higher elevations of the Northeast could punch below minus 50 (minus 45 Celsius) as an Arctic front swept in from Canada, forecasters said.

In Texas, Austin officials compared damage from fallen trees and iced-over power lines to tornadoes as they came under criticism for slow repairs and shifting timelines to restore power. More than 240,000 customers across the state lacked power early Friday, down from 430,000 on Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.

“Our heat source is our fireplace … and we’ve been in bed, snuggled up under like five or six blankets,” Edward Dahlke, of Spring Branch, southwest of Austin, told KSAT-TV. “Just think that our utility companies need to do a better job making sure our infrastructure is maintained properly.”

Pauline Frerich, also of Spring Branch, told KSAT that she had no way to prepare a meal without electricity, and that she worries about the cost of replacing hundreds of dollars of spoiled food. As the storm swept over this week, the indoor temperature fell to 29 degrees (-1 Celsius), and the sounds of tree limbs breaking unsettled her.

“And you didn’t know, was it on the roof, was it just in the yard?” Frerich told KSAT. “But it’s very nerve-wracking.”

Power failures were most widespread in Austin. Impatience rose there among nearly 123,000 customers days after the electricity first went out.

Thursday night, officials backtracked on early estimates that power would be fully restored by Friday evening. Damage was worse than originally calculated, they said, and they could no longer provide an estimate.

The outages recalled the 2021 blackouts in Texas, when hundreds of people died after the state’s power grid was pushed to the brink of total failure because of a lack of generation. There have been no reports of deaths from this week’s power outages, though the storm and freeze have been blamed for at least 12 traffic fatalities on slick roads in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

In New England, temperatures began plunging Friday morning.

“The worst part of the upcoming cold snap is going to be the wind,” which has already topped 80 mph (129 kph) in higher elevations, said National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Oravec. Frigid wind chills — the combined effect of wind and cold air on exposed skin — are expected Saturday.

The worst wind chills in the populated areas of the Northeast shouldn’t go lower than minus 40 (minus 40 Celsius), he said.

Wind gusts as high as 40 mph raised the prospect of power outages in Maine, and communities began opening warming stations.

Even cold-weather sports were curtailed. Some ski resorts scaled back operations, eliminating night skiing and reducing lift operations. A popular weekend pond hockey tournament was postponed, and the National Toboggan Championship pushed Saturday’s races back by a day.

Schools closed Friday in Boston and in Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city. “In these conditions, frostbite can develop in as little as 30 minutes,” an announcement on the Manchester district’s website read. “This is simply too cold for students who walk home.”

Some of the most extreme weather was expected atop New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, the Northeast’s highest peak and home to a weather observatory, where winds gusted to nearly 100 mph (160 kph) and wind chills could reach minus 100 (minus 73 Celsius).

The system is expected to move out of the region Sunday.

___

Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack contributed to this report.

A+
a-

In The News

Health

Voting

Weather

Climate Change in Texas Textbooks Causing Friction in America's Biggest Oil and Gas State

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — How science textbooks in Texas address climate change is at the center of a key vote expected Friday... Read More

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — How science textbooks in Texas address climate change is at the center of a key vote expected Friday after some Republican education officials criticized books for being too negative toward fossil fuels in America's biggest oil and gas state. The issue of which textbooks... Read More

Some Houses Being Built to Withstand Hurricanes and Cut Emissions

When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars and trucks piled up to the... Read More

When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars and trucks piled up to the windows of Bonny Paulson's home in the tiny coastal community of Mexico Beach, Florida, even though the house rests on pillars 14 feet above the ground.... Read More

In Early 2029, Earth Likely to Lock Into Breaching Key Warming Threshold, Scientists Calculate

In a little more than five years – sometime in early 2029 – the world will likely be unable to... Read More

In a little more than five years – sometime in early 2029 – the world will likely be unable to stay below the internationally agreed temperature limit for global warming if it continues to burn fossil fuels at its current rate, a new study says. The study moves... Read More

A Fight Over Precious Groundwater in Rural California Town Is Rooted in Carrots

NEW CUYAMA, Calif. (AP) — In the hills of a dry, remote patch of California farm country, Lee Harrington carefully... Read More

NEW CUYAMA, Calif. (AP) — In the hills of a dry, remote patch of California farm country, Lee Harrington carefully monitors the drips moistening his pistachio trees to ensure they’re not wasting any of the groundwater at the heart of a vicious fight. He is one... Read More

Storm Pounds New York City Area, Flooding Subways and Leading to Abandoned Vehicles

NEW YORK (AP) — A potent rush-hour rainstorm swamped the New York metropolitan area on Friday, shutting down parts of... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — A potent rush-hour rainstorm swamped the New York metropolitan area on Friday, shutting down parts of the city's subway system, flooding streets and highways, and delaying flights into LaGuardia Airport. Up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas... Read More

Inside Scientists' Mission to Save America’s Wine Industry From Climate Change

ALPINE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. West Coast produces over 90% of America's wine, but the region is also prone... Read More

ALPINE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. West Coast produces over 90% of America's wine, but the region is also prone to wildfires — a combustible combination that spelled disaster for the industry in 2020 and one that scientists are scrambling to neutralize. Sample a good wine and you... Read More

News From The Well
scroll top