AUSTIN, Texas — The first freeze of 2025 has arrived for the Austin area and local and state agencies say they’re prepared for every scenario.
ERCOT issued a Weather Watch due to an expected high power demand from Jan. 6 through Jan. 10 with a dip in temperatures expected throughout the week.
As a result, Austin Energy officials said they have staff ready to respond if outages do happen.
Spokesperson Matt Mitchell said the big takeaway this time around is that lessons have been learned. Winter weather in 2021 and 2023 left a mark on the state after a bitter cold swept in.
The 2021 winter storm saw widespread outages, death, and the grid to go into failure. In 2023, a historic ice storm left many power outages, downed powerlines and frozen trees. Since then, local leaders have taken steps to prevent as much chaos from ensuing.
“Every year we do better when it comes to vegetation management,” Mitchell said. “We clear more of those circuits every year. We know better about staffing and supplies that are needed in instances like this are our, electrical distribution system.”
Mitchell said Austin Energy is focused on two things: ice accumulation and wind. If the wind surpasses 30 or 35 miles per hour, that’s when local outages can happen. Mitchell also noted when the cold settled overnight, one spot in North Austin lost power for a little over an hour.
However, Mitchell said that with the anticipated forecasts, if power does go out, they expect it to be short-lived.
“We don’t see that necessarily in the forecast this time around, but we want to make sure that all of our tools are in the toolbox and ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice,” Mitchell said.
City leaders told KVUE that Austin’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management is monitoring the cold front, and will be on standby should they need to activate the emergency operations center. However, a spokesperson said they don’t expect “any significant winter weather conditions that would impact community infrastructure or utilities.”
On Monday, Austinites were out stocking up on supplies to be prepared, despite not being too concerned about the cold snap.
“I’ve got a couple of cases of water and plenty of pasta and rice and canned goods,” Ernest Trevino said. “Don’t be afraid to take care of yourself, your property, and your animals … we’ll muscle through another.”
ERCOT told KVUE on Monday that they expect grid conditions to remain normal, but will provide updates if there are any shifts in the forecast.