Arctic blast leaves 63,000 customers without power across Texas

Brandi D. Addison and Alex Driggars, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
·2 min read
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Editor's note: This story will be periodically updated throughout the winter storm. The last update was made at 12:47 p.m. Friday.

Tens of thousands of Texas electricity customers have lost power in a winter storm that began to push high winds and single-digit temperatures across the state late Wednesday. More than 63,000 tracked customers were without power as of early Friday afternoon, according to the U.S. Power Outage tracker.

Throughout the duration of the storm, the High Plains has mostly fared well experiencing only brief power outages Thursday morning — all of which were repaired by noon. At the time, high winds had knocked power out for more than 1,000 customers in Lubbock for approximately 12 minutes and 1,200 customers in Randall County near Amarillo for less than two hours.

Though the wind chill advisory is set to expire in Texas at noon Friday, the winter storm will continue to plunge through most of the country with persisting subzero temperatures, high wind speeds and — in some parts of the country — blizzard conditions.

As of 9 a.m. Friday, 27 states are facing widespread power outages of at least 10,000 customers, which includes nearly every state on the eastern half of the U.S. in addition to Oregon and Washington.

Power lines run power from the Carroll McDonald Substation during winter weather in Lubbock.
Power lines run power from the Carroll McDonald Substation during winter weather in Lubbock.

The Southwest Power Pool — the grid operator for much of the Midwest and non-ERCOT Texas, including Amarillo — issued an Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) level one out of three for about 90 minutes Friday morning, meaning SPP was at risk of not meeting its required operating reserves as demand neared available supply. The EEA lasted from about 8:30 to 10 a.m.

SPP remained under a Conservative Operations Advisory Friday afternoon due to "continued high loads, severe cold weather, and wind forecast uncertainty." This advisory does not require the public to conserve energy.

SPP said the grid set a new record for wintertime electricity use Thursday, with load exceeding 47,000 megawatts. This beats the previous record of 43,661 megawatts, set Feb. 15, 2021 during Winter Storm Uri.

In a news release sent ahead of the winter storm earlier this week, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas stated that it has worked closely with elected officials and the Public Utility Commission to increase grid reliability and weatherize energy supplies.

Many Texans are wary after the statewide grid failed to provide sufficient supply when freezing temperatures and icy conditions loomed over the entire state in February 2021. Some customers lost power for more than a week.

Data from the Department of State Health Services shows more than 160 people died from weather-related causes during Winter Storm Uri.

Conditions are expected to operate as normal throughout the day with sufficient supply in the reserves, according to the ERCOT website.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Arctic blast leaves thousands without power across Texas