Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management on Tuesday to prepare for the impacts of impending the winter weather.
It’s expected to begin early Friday morning and last through the weekend — not just extended freezing temperatures, but a dangerous combination of sleet, freezing rain, and ice.
Eric Berger, a meteorologist with Space City Weather based in Houston, said the cold should reach the Panhandle and parts of North Texas first early on Friday.
“One of the really notable things I think about this freeze is that it’s going to be pretty long-lasting,” he said. “So some of our coldest weather is not going to come until Sunday and Monday mornings for large parts of the state.”
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The storm is also expected to bring between a half an inch to an inch of precipitation with it.
“The majority that’s going to fall as freezing rain for most of the state, particularly for areas like Austin and Dallas and sort of central and eastern Texas,” Berger said. “And you know that’s really dangerous to drive on. There will be a period, probably from late Saturday through Monday morning, where the state’s temperature won’t get above freezing. So that ice really isn’t going to go anywhere.”
Berger advised that people use I-10 as a guide. In general, north of I-10 will likely see freezing rain whereas south of the highway will be more likely to see rain with maybe some freezing rain mixed in.
“The concern would be, even for areas along and south of I-10, is that if you get wet streets, then the temperatures drop and then there’s a chance for ice to form before the water evaporates,” he said. “So there’s going to be hazards across the state.”
While this freeze is not expected to be as deep as Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, Berger said some places might lose power because of ice accumulation on power lines and tree limbs.
“ERCOT, looking at their predictions, it says they’re gonna have enough power to keep the lights on,” he said. “But then the concern becomes, okay, but if you get ice accumulations on power lines and tree limbs, do you have a problem in distributing that electricity? I think electricity will be a concern this weekend, unfortunately.”
Berger said he also has concerns about pipes bursting in the cold weather, especially exterior pipes. He advised that people who live in homes figure out how to turn their water off in case of an emergency.
And in terms of what to buy at the store to prepare?
“You want to have some water and provisions like that. This is not going to be a long-lasting event. A large part of the state should be able to get pretty mobile by Monday afternoon,” he said. “People just kind of need to be prepared to be flexible this weekend and early next week, because we don’t get these winter storms all that often, although they certainly have been fairly frequent the last five years. I think large parts of the state will be shut down on Saturday and Sunday.”
