FORT WORTH, Texas — A frigid record low hit North Texas Monday morning and ERCOT, the electric utility, began rotating outages to reduce the state's demand on energy as Texans tried to keep warm.
On Sunday, the entire state of Texas was under a winter warning advisory.
And weather forecasters say it may not get above freezing until Friday.
Early Monday, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) declared Texas at its highest energy emergency level and started rotating outages to reduce demand on energy as Texans tried to stay warm.
ERCOT officials also advised Texans to keep thermostats at 68 degrees, turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances, and avoid the use of large appliances such as washers, dryers and dishwashers.
Initally, Oncor officials said the outages would last 15 to 45 minutes, but in their most recent update, they are saying restoration times are not yet known and outages could last for hours. That’s something borne out by North Texas social media posts, indicating some residents have been without power for several hours.
Authorities said the outages have been caused by the rolling blackouts and damages from the extreme cold.
McKenna Carey of Aubrey lost power at 2 a.m.
“When I called the Texas-New Mexico Power outage number it said the expected time for it to be fixed was 4:15 a.m.,” Carey said. The power remained off as of 8:10 a.m.
“Now it says it should be fixed by 9:15 a.m.,” Carey said. “We are snuggled up with lots of blankets right now. Our thermostat is showing 53.”
Carey said her family does not have a fireplace. Power returned at 9:30 a.m. Monday
“But it has been cycling on and off every 15 minutes,” Carey said. “Definitely better than nothing.”
Dwayne Pickney of Garland went without power for more than eight hours Monday. Pickney lives at the Montclaire Estates Senior Living Apartment Homes in Garland.
Power at Pickney’s home went out at 3 a.m. Monday and didn’t returned at 11:39 a.m. Monday.
“I had three layers of clothes on me,” Pickney said. “I warmed up a little when I charged my phone in my car, but it was very cold.”
As of 1:24 p.m., more than 611,000 customers were without power in Tarrant and Dallas counties, according to Oncor.
At 8:23 a.m., the temperature was 4 degrees at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, breaking the previous record low for Feb. 15 of 15 degrees set in 1909, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
Another record low probably will be broken Tuesday morning. The record for the day is 12 degrees established in 1903, and the NWS is calling for a low of 3.
Snow and sleet covered North Texas Monday morning after a winter blast hit the area over the weekend.
MedStar responded to 431 calls on Sunday, 21 involving crashes. Two kids suffered minor injuries Sunday afternoon when they were hit by a car as they were riding a sled near the TCU area in Fort Worth, according to MedStar reports.
In addition, MedStar responded to 22 hypothermia cases in the area.
The high Monday will be only 15 with wind chill values as low as 16 below.
More snow and sleet arrives late Tuesday into Wednesday in North Texas.
“The D-FW area will be probably have some light icing from the storm,” said David Bonnette, a meteorologist with the NWS in Fort Worth on Monday. “And there’s a chance of 3 to 6 inches of snow.”
