Millions without power as US braces for another winter storm: Live updates | CNN (2024)

An executive for a company that delivers power to Houston-area homes said at a news conference today that rolling blackouts aren’t a possibility due to a “generation shortfall” at the state’s power generation companies.

“We still don’t have sufficient generation from the power generation companies to go to the rolling outages that we all may have expected to occur during this event,”said JasonRyan, CenterPointEnergy senior vice president for regulatory services and government affairs.

Ryan said they have been able to transfer some outages across the CenterPoint system, but cautioned that they may not be able to continue with this practice.

“Today, we’ve been focusing on those customers who have beared the burden of this event from the beginning, starting at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday, and working through the list to transfer those outages to people who haven’t yet sustained those outages,” Ryan said.

“We are transferring sustained outages across our system, as we have the power to do so which is important. We may not always have the power to do that. So, what should you expect whether you have power or not as we sit here right now, you should plan as if you may have sustained outages until this generation shortfall is over,” he continued.

Ryan pleaded with residents who do have power to conserve as much as possible as the region continues to grapple with the after-effects of the storm and sustained outage.

“Every unit of power that you don’t use helps one of your fellow Harris County citizens keep their power,” Ryan continued. “There is nothing too small that you can do. When you have 2.6 million homes and businesses, a small effort by everybody that has the power at this time to conserve makes a big difference.”

The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) said Tuesday it had received notification from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines scheduled to arrive early this week would be delayed by the manufacturers due to the inclement winter weather.

Other states have had the same problem.

The weather also is affecting a distribution hub in Tennessee that sends vaccinations to Colorado and other states, according to Colorado State Joint Information Center.

President Joe Biden makes his way to board Air Force One prior to departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on February 16.

The White House released a readout of President Biden’s call with a bipartisan group of governors affected by severe winter weather this week, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, and Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.

According to the White House, Biden “reiterated to all the governors that his Administration is prepared to assist and stands ready to respond to requests for Federal assistance from the governors and will deploy any additional Federal emergency resources available to assist the residents of their states in getting through this historic storm.”

As winter storms and arctic blasts pound Oklahoma and other states, Tulsa is reporting over 100 water main and service line breaks, according to the Waterline Break Board on the city’s website.

As of Tuesday evening, the city data shows 113 water line breaks since Sunday.

According to the city, a “Main Break” is when a main water pipe fails and a “service line break” is when the pipe between the water main and the water meter fails. In both cases, a “steady stream of water surfaces, bubbles or flows from the surrounding ground.”

On Tuesday, Tulsa suffered a record low temperature for the day at -16 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

“Water line breaks in Tulsa are creating dangerous conditions,” Tulsa Police tweeted with a photo of a parked patrol car that became stuck when a water line broke and the water froze around the vehicle’s wheels.

Police advised people tomove vehicles away from standing water if possible.

Across Oklahoma, 123 people were hospitalized Monday with weather-related injuries.

“Crews are working 24/7 to try and get to each of these problem areas,” police tweeted.

Travis County, Texas, Judge Andy Brown on Tuesday said he is signing an order prohibiting businesses from increasing the prices of certain goods and services during a winter storm in parts of the state.

Speaking during a news conference with other local officials, Travis said this will include hotel rooms.

Brown added the order will also force local businesses, including officer towers and sports facilities, to turn off their exterior lights and quit using electricity “if those lights or functions aren’t related to essential businesses.”

Local officials emphasized prolonged power outages could last longer than tonight.

“Until this weather event clears, and more generating units across the state are able to come online, there will not be enough capacity to meet all energy customer demand,” said Jackie Sargent, general manager at Austin Energy. “ERCOT [Electric Reliability Council of Texas] has indicated that this energy emergency will continue until the grid is stabilized and there’s more generating capacity available to meet our statewide customer demand.”

Brutal winter weather affecting a vaccine distribution hub in Tennessee has delayed Covid-19 vaccinations in Colorado and other states, according to Colorado State Joint Information Center.

Ahead of the President’s Day holiday weekend, Colorado requested and received doses on Friday that had been scheduled for this week, but the state’s allocation of 133,000 vaccines expected to arrive Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will still be impacted by the winter storms.

“This decision helps us have enough on hand to work with providers to move doses around to prevent cancelations,” the press release said.

Winter storm warnings are in effect in parts of Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and all of Arkansas. Watches are in place from Kentucky to New England.

Approximately 2,000 people in Florida’s Miami-Dade County will not receive their scheduled second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine due to weather-related supply delays, according to Rachel Johnson, communications director of the Miami-Dade mayor’s office.

Johnson told CNN that the second doses of the Pfizer vaccine that was scheduled to be administered on Thursday has not arrived.

All the people impacted have been notified about the delay, according to Johnson, and have been told that as soon as the vaccine arrives their appointment will be rescheduled.

A United Airlines jet is deiced at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on February 16 in Houston, Texas.

Airlines are canceling hundreds of flights after this week’s massive Texas snowstorm.

American Airlines says it canceled about a third of its flights on Tuesday. An airline spokesperson says 970 mainline and regional flights were canceled of 3,003 flights scheduled. Air traffic into and out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport—the airline’s largest hub—was slowed, but the airport did not close.

Southwest Airlines says it canceled 450 flights Tuesday out of 1,900 that were scheduled to operate. Southwest’s hub of Houston Hobby was closed but will reopen late Tuesday afternoon, according to a tweet from the airport’s verified Twitter account.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston is slated to reopen around 8 p.m. CT, the airport tweeted Tuesday. The airport is a hub for United Airlines, which says it canceled about 800 flights Tuesday due to bad weather across the country. The airline has issued travel waivers for Houston but also the northeast, Ohio River Valley, and the Great Lakes region.

Delta Air Lines says it has seen approximately 230 cancellations Tuesday across its flight network with the majority in Texas and adjacent states.

Customers use the light from a cell phone to look in the meat section of a grocery store on February 16 in Dallas, Texas.

A fourth of the utility customers inDallas County, Texas, are without power ahead of another frigid night, according the Dallas County judge’s office.

“The most dire situation right now are the power outages. We have about 25% of the Dallas County customers without power with temperatures projected to be below freezing until Friday and another winter storm approaching this evening,” Lauren Trimble, chief of staff for the Dallas County judge, told CNN.

Statewide: Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick called the massive statewide power outages involving the Electric Reliability Council of Texas “unacceptable” earlier today in a statement on Twitter.

“Millions of people without power during this arctic blast is life-threatening and unacceptable. We must get to the bottom of this to be sure we are better prepared even if an unprecedented weather event happens again,” the statement said.

In advance of winter weather and adverse road conditions, the state of Illinois ordered Covid-19 vaccine to be delivered to its “Strategic National Stockpile Receipt, Store, and Stage site,” according to a statement by the state.

Illinois also says they have been informed by the federal government they should anticipate vaccine delivery delays this week due to the winter storms.

“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Operation Warp Speed (OWS) are projecting adverse weather impacts to operations at its partner and carrier facilities where vaccines and ancillary supply kits originate,” the statement said.

“HHS/OWS have advised that many regularly projected deliveries for Tuesday will be significantly impacted by adverse weather occurring across the U.S,” it adds.

Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett speaks during a press conference on February 16.

Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett announced during a news conference Tuesday afternoon, thatat the height of the winter storm today, 150,000 Kentucky homes were without power across 47 counties. Now, the total number is down 135,000 outages statewide.

Dossett said 32 counties and 22 cities have declared a state of emergency.

According to the director, the storm hitting Kentucky now will contain multiple rounds of wintery weather Wednesday to Friday, with sleet, snow, rain and freezing rain, and snowfall, with accumulations anywhere from three to six inches. The state is also expecting temperature to drop into the single digits, Dossett said.

“Hazardous driving conditions are the rule and not the exception,”Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said, addressing Kentucky roadways.

Gray said power outages have led to low fuel supplies for maintenance trucks and the Kentucky Transportation Division of Equipment and Division of Incident Management are working to truck motor fuel into some of Kentucky’s eastern counties.

Gray added that some maintenance facilities have been down. In Boyd County, crews couldn’t get home last night and had to spend the night in their maintenance facility.

The city of San Angelo, Texas, is putting out an unusual plea, asking residents to “be responsible and safe” because their fire crews “are taxed right now with fall victims and other calls,” according to the city’s Twitter account.

San Angelo has been forced to issue a boil water order, after multiple water line breaks during winter weather.The city is tweeting requests in both English and Spanish to residents to conserve water.

And at one point, the city asked resident not to drip their faucets in an effort to keep pipes from freezing.

“We have been advising people to drip their faucets to prevent pipes from freezing, however due to low water pressure and supply concerns, we are asking citizens to refrain from doing this as much as possible so that we can conserve as much water as possible,” the city said.

See the city’s tweets:

Homes are covered in snow in Houston on February 15.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he understands frustrations as 1.3 million customers are without power in the Houston region.

The mayor said he expects 400,000 households to have their power restored today.

“Now that will be a significant improvement, but in view of the fact that there are 1.3 million customers that are without power in this Houston region… that means we still have a way to go,” Turner said.

The mayor said he asked the downtown management district and CenterPoint Energy to notify building owners and managers who have lights on in their buildings downtown.

“I’m going to ask again, for those buildings, for example, downtown, or really anywhere in the city of Houston, that are not being utilized, occupied, especially in the evening times, to turn off those lights,” Turner said, but added that they can’t turn off everything downtown because hotels, jails, and the homeless shelter are full.

The Galveston County, Texas Medical Examiner’s Office has requested a refrigerated truck in the event they need to increase storage capacity after the damaging winter storm, Zach Davidson, the county’s emergency management communications director, told CNN.

County officials characterize the truck request as part of a proactive approach in the event area funeral homes are without power for sustained periods of time or face issues with back-up generators, according to Raul Reyes, spokesperson for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

UTMB is working in tandem with the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office as part of the region’s coordinated response to the storm, Reyes said.

The city of Abilene, Texas, restored power to one water plant, according to a tweet from the city’s official Twitter account.

This comes after officials were forced to shut off water Monday night due to power outages.

The current temperature in Abilene is 22 degrees.

Abilene has a population of approximately 123,000, according to data from the US Census.The city is located about 150 miles west of Fort Worth.

The Houston Fire Department has responded to 56 fire calls and over 90 calls for carbon monoxide poisoning, Chief Samuel Peña said in a news conference today.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo reported four fatalities, including one homeless person believed to be from weather, two family members from carbon monoxide poisoning, and one traffic-related fatality.

Fourteen Harris County, Texas, residents,including seven children, have been taken to a hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning after using grills to try to heat their homes, fire officials said Tuesday.

“We have responded to multiple carbon monoxide poisoning calls. Fourteen people, including at least 7 children, have been transported by Cy-Fair Fire Departmentfor CO poisoning in the last 24 hours,” Cy-Fair Fire Department tweeted.

They were all using grills to try and heat their homes as frigid temperatures and power outages impact the city.

Houston officials said earlier today a woman and child died from carbon monoxide poisoning after trying to stay warm using a car in a garage.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaks during a press conference on February 16.

Approximately 18,000 to 20,000 Arkansas residents are still without power around the state, according to Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Southwest Power Pool, which controls the supply of energy in part of the state, will continue to operate in an emergency alert status, meaning the system is running below minimum reserve, he said.

“Energy conservation is critical,” said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson also extended through Friday deployment of members of the Arkansas National Guard to assist drivers during snowstorms across the state, he said.

“I want to applaud them for being of such assistance to motorists, to those that are providing emergency services — that they can have the extra support of the National Guard,” the governor said.

“We have 100 guardsmen that are deployed across the state. We have 26 Humvees that are engaged. We have also approved two ambulance crews to help the emergency workers as they provide the ambulance service. This is going to continue through the rest of the week we expect up to eight inches of snow,” he continued.

A woman walks on an emptystreet on February 15 in Austin, Texas.

Austin Energy, a publicly owned utility company providing electrical power to the city of Austin, is telling residents not to expect power to return “through Tuesday night and possibly longer.”

AustinEnergysaid electric providers are waiting ontheElectric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)grid to stabilize and that “customers who have sustained outages should expect those outages to continue until the situation improves.”

“All of our crews are ready to restore power to those affected as soon as we are authorized to do so by ERCOT. We recognize the hardships and understand why customers are frustrated,” AE said.

ERCOT has recently become the target of criticism across the state. Regular citizens, local leaders, and Gov. Greg Abbott have criticized the company for the prolonged loss of power throughout the state amid frigid winter conditions.

The Texas State House announced an investigation and joint hearings will take place later this month to look into the widespread power outages across the state.

There are around 3.8 million Texans still without power, according to poweroutage.us.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker issued a statewide disaster proclamation “in response to the dangerous winter storm that has blanketed the state with life threatening wind chills, power outages and accumulating snow,” according to a news release from the governor’s office.

The extreme temperatures are straining utility providers, the statement said, and approximately 7,000 households in Illinois are without power.

“I have directed my administration to use all resources at our disposal to keep our communities safe amid dangerous and ongoing winter weather,” Pritzker said in the statement.

See the governor’s tweet about the situation in the state:

The Houston Independent School District announced Tuesday it is canceling school until at least Friday.

HISD is largest school district in Texas and includes 276 schools and serves almost 200,000 children,according to its website.

Read the school district’s tweet:

The state of Kentucky is experiencingwidespread power outages, downed trees andhazardous road conditions due to a winter storm, according to a release fromGov. Andy Beshear.

As of 12 p.m. ET, there were “approximately 145,000 Kentucky customers without power, with numerous counties reporting downed trees,” the release said.

The Kentucky National Guard and Kentucky State Police troopers are “providing wellness checks in counties suffering power outages,” the release said.

“There are widespread power outages across the Flemingsburg, Jackson and Pikeville highway districts” and multiple Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) facilities in the eastern part of the state are also without power, according to the release.

“Arrangements are being made to transport fuel for crew vehicles that have lost access to pumping stations,” Beshear said in the release.

Crews “continue to work hard to clear roads, trees and branches and support communities across the commonwealth as needed,” according to the release.

“We remind Kentuckians to please stay off the roads if possible. They are slick and dangerous,”Beshear said.

All 16 Kentucky State Police posts throughout the commonwealth are reporting hazardous road conditions, according to the release.

The governor said the State Emergency Operations Center is currently activated at Level 3, the release said.

A person was killed today when they hit a snowplow with their vehicle in Medina County, outside Cleveland, Ohio Transportation Director Jack Marchbanks announced during a news conference.

“Our snowplows are very heavy, very sturdy. If you hit a snowplow, you and your vehicle will be the ones who come out for the worst,” he said this afternoon.

According to Marchbanks, 11 snowplows have been hit in Ohio just in the past two weeks, compared to eight hit all last winter.

“So it’s very treacherous out there,” he said.

Another winter storm is bearing down on a region all ready blanketed with snow. Some areas won’t see snow. They will see sleet or freezing rain.

The type of precipitation you will get is all based on the air temperature at different levels of the atmosphere.

Think of the atmosphere as a tall column. If that column of air is below freezing from top to bottom, the result will be snow.

If there is warm air at the top, and below-freezing temperatures toward the bottom of the column, then you will have sleet. This is because the warm air high in the atmosphere will produce a raindrop. As the raindrop falls and enters into the air below freezing, it will freeze before hitting the surface. Because sleet is basically a frozen raindrop, you can actually hear sleet when it hits the surface.

Lastly, if the entire column of air is above freezing until right at the surface, the raindrop will freeze on contact. This is called freezing rain and it is the most dangerous type of precipitation.

Freezing rain sticks to anything it comes in contact with, causing a dangerous glaze of ice on roadways, trees, power lines and your vehicle. The weight of the ice can bring down trees and power lines, causing power outages during extremely cold temperatures.

Winter weather is complicated and it all depends on the temperature of the air it travels through. This also has adirect effect on the look of snowflakes.

The winter storm that has ravaged parts of the country has also delayed shipments of the Covid-19 vaccine to Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted Tuesday.

“Weather conditions across the United States are impacting the shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine to Florida,” DeSantis wrote today.

The governor added thatFlorida’s Division of Emergency Management and the Department of Health “are providing regular updates to our partners to ensure the vaccine is distributed as efficiently as possible as it arrives.”

Alex Shaw, the spokesperson for the Health Department for Palm Beach County, told CNN that they were expecting 4,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine today that have been delayed. Shaw did say that yesterday’s vaccine shipment arrived as expected.

Publix, the grocery store chain whose pharmacies have helped administer the vaccine, said that it has had to cancel scheduling new appointments on Wednesday.

“Due to weather-related issues preventing government delivery of allotted Covid-19 vaccine, Publix is canceling Wednesday’s scheduling event in Florida for COVID-19 vaccinations,” the company said in a statement today.

“Once additional vaccine is received, we will announce the next opportunity for vaccine appointment scheduling,” Maria Brous, a spokesperson for the grocery store chain, added in the statement.

Appointments already scheduled are not impacted, Publix added.

Other areas of the state have not been impacted. Jennifer Smith, a spokesperson for Broward Health, told CNN that there has been no delay in their vaccine shipments and the hospital system hasn’t had to cancel any appointments.Broward Health is a public, non-profit hospital system in Broward County.

“We continue to vaccinate over 1,000 community members daily,” Smith said in an email to CNN.

A resident clears snow from a sidewalk on February 16 in Chicago.

Covid-19 shipments coming into the Chicago area were delayed Tuesday after more than a foot of snow fell between Sunday evening and Tuesday morning, and wind chill plunged the city into negative temperatures at times.

The weather “led to a delay of vaccine shipments coming into Chicago over the upcoming days,” according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Additionally, all city-run Covid vaccine sites closed Tuesday due to the winter weather, according to city of Chicago. “People with scheduled appointments at the City’s sites have been notified of changes and their appointments will be rescheduled,” a statement released Tuesday read.

The Cook County Health system, which includes the Chicago suburbs, also told CNN all of their vaccination sites would be closed Tuesday, except for three they operate within the city limits.

Moving forward, there is less snow in the forecast, but the Chicago Department of Public Health said, “The City is assessing the overall impact from the storm and will make further decisions regarding testing and vaccine operations on a day-to-day basis.”

Chicago has now had measurable snow for nine consecutive days, tying a record for the city, according to the National Weather Service.

Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo urged residents to stay off the roads as the Houston area — and much of the South and Central US — braces for another winter storm.

Hidalgo said that if people must drive, they should avoid bridges and freeways and “treat roads like a school zone.” She encouraged people to get to wherever they intend to sleep tonight by this afternoon.

The National Weather Service in Houston has warned that this next storm will impact the region starting tonight through Thursday morning. The service warned that roads and bridges will ice first.

Here’s Hidalgo’s full tweet:

Snow removal vehicles clear ice from around airplanes at Nashville International Airport on February 15 in Nashville, Tennessee.

As of noon ET Tuesday, there were 2,597 flight cancellations and 911 delayswithin, into or out of the US, according todata from FlightAware.com.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration air traffic report:

Here’s a state-by-state look at how some airports are affected:

Texas

Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport said it’s airfield closed until at least 5 p.m. ET, according to IAH

“UPDATE: Our airfield will remain closed until at least 4 pm. We will update you on any changes to that timeframe. Our crews are working tirelessly to have the airfield back in service. We ask passengers to contact their airline before coming to the airport,” IAH said in a tweet.

Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, operated by IAH, was also closedon Monday and is expected to reopenat 5pET, said the FAA.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is open, but there is a ground stop in effect for arrivingtraffic, according to the FAA.

TheTrinity Railway Express service,which stops at DFW Airport andbetween Dallas and Fort Worth is suspended until Thursday, DFW said in a tweet.

Austin–Bergstrom International Airport canceled all arriving and departing flights for Tuesday, according to a ABIA tweet.

“Our teams are working around the clock to remove snow & ice from the airport campus,” the tweet said.

Mississippi

Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport is closed until 12 a.m. ET on Feb. 17, the airport said in a release.“Should weather conditions further decline,” the closure may be extended, said the airport.

Tennessee

Nashville International Airport is open with some flight cancellations/delays, said BNA in a tweet Tuesday.

“TRAVEL ALERT: The airport is open, but many flights are canceled or delayed.Before heading to BNA, check with your airline for flight status. You may be saving yourself an unnecessary trip out,” said an airport tweet.

Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo speaks during an interview in Houston on February 16.

Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo said current conditions are “dire” and the “biggest tragedy of this crisis” is the people without power. In some cases, people haven’t had power or water for more than 24 hours.

Hidalgo said CenterPoint Energy told her 1.37 million people in the region don’t have power, but the energy company is working to restore it.

“I want people to know that once this is over, I will be advocating on behalf of all of our residents in Harris County because all of us deserve answers as to what exactly went wrong. Why wasn’t ERCOT prepared? We all knew this weather was coming, so why did they not have electricity ready and stored? Why were they not resilient to deal with this situation? We’re going to have to ask questions, because we’re going need changes to be made so this doesn’t happen again,” Hidalgo said.

She added:

CNN’s Jeremy Grisham contributed to this report.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psakispeaks during the daily press briefing at the White House on February 16 in Washington, DC.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during Tuesday’s press briefing that President Biden’s homeland security adviser has been in contact with governors of the states impacted by the recent winter storm that impacted the central US.

“A brutal arctic mass impacted the central United States this weekend, bringing freezing rain, sleet and snow from Texas to the mid-Atlantic. On Saturday night, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott requested a federal emergency declaration due to the severe weather storm. Homeland Security Adviser Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall called Gov. Abbott on Sunday to let him know that the President had immediately granted his request,” Psaki said.

On Monday, Sherwood-Randall called the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Kansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma, Psaki said, adding, “She expressed the President’s strong commitment to ensuring the federal government proactively does everything it can to support state and local officials in preparing for and responding to the events that impact our citizens.”

Psaki told reporters that the President has been kept informed on the situation and has been provided regular updates.

“I don’t have any calls to read out, but I expect he will be involved personally and if we have calls that he’s making himself we will provide that information to all of you,” she added.

Millions of people are still living a nightmare scenario of arctic cold, snow or ice with little to no power. There will be little time Tuesday before the next blast of winter weather compounds the situation.

Unfortunately, the situation across much of Oklahoma and northern Texas will get worse before it gets better,” CNN meteorologist Haley Brink said.

Places like Little Rock, Arkansas, could see another 6 to 8 inches of snow on top of the 8 to 10 inches they have already seen. They typically average only 1.3 inches of snow in February.

This is likely to be Little Rock’s top snowiest 3-days ever.

Then there is the ice.

More sleet and freezing rain will fall from Central Texas through northern Alabama, once again coating portions of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in a fresh sheet of ice.

The National Weather Service in Fairbanks, Alaska, reported that its low today is 3 degrees.

The service pointed out that much of the lower 48 — including parts of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma — have colder lows than that.

The National Weather Service tweeted out this rough outline of the parts of the US with lows colder than Fairbanks today:

Patrons sit in a restaurant without power caused by cold weather blackouts on February 16 in Richardson, Texas.

Following a severe winter weather event and deadly power outages, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said Tuesday it is “optimistic about power restoration” throughout the state.

“The number of controlled outages we have to do remains high. We are optimistic that we will be able to reduce the number throughout the day,”ERCOT Senior Director of System OperationsDan Woodfin said in atweetTuesday.

ERCOT said they expect to “restore some customers” Tuesday afternoon with wind, solar, and thermal power sources but “the amount we restore will depend on how much generation is actually able to come online.

ERCOT is the major grid operator in Texas and controlsabout 90% of the state’s electric load.ERCOT announced Monday that rollingpower outages would be implemented to reduce demand on the system and has been implementing rolling blackouts since, a move that has drawncriticismfrom local officials.

The mayor of Texas’ largest population hub said he was “angry andfrustrated” about the power outages in his city.

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson also expressed frustration and ripped ERCOT’s lack of communication saying “people are suffering, and they need some idea of what to expect.”

“I have been as frustrated as everyone else today. I know this has been extraordinarily difficult. These power outages are unacceptable, and ERCOT needs to answer for them,” JohnsontweetedTuesday.

Houston’s Police Chief Art Acevedo also weighed calling the power outages a “failure of the electrical grid” and blamed local leaders.

There are currently more than 4.4 million Texas households without power.

A snow plow clears a street on February 15 in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

As the nation continues to deal with extreme winter weather, many states across the country have been forced to delay Covid-19 vaccinations. Below is a quick look at how some states are responding to the weather.

Texas

On Monday, the winter storm cut power to the Harris County Public Health Department building and the backup generator also failed, putting over 8,400 coronavirus vaccines in jeopardy of spoiling, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said. The county quickly began farming out the doses to local hospitals, universities and jails to administer.

Dallas County was forced to close its Fair Park vaccination site through Wednesday, according to a county press release.

Also in the state, no first dose coronavirus vaccines are being shipped to the City of Corpus Christi and the Nueces County Public Health District on Monday and Tuesday due to winter weather, according to a news release from the city.

In San Antonio, the city postponed vaccine appointments at the Alamodome until Saturday due to the storm, according toa statementfrom the city.

Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Department of Health tweeted “Due to inclement weather, some COVID-19 vaccine PODS will have adjusted hours or temporary closures throughout the week in order to ensure public safety is a priority consideration.”

The state continues to update their Inclement Weather Updates here.

Missouri

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said on Monday that the state has canceled all of its Covid-19 mass vaccination events scheduled for Monday through Friday, due to extreme winter weather.

Kentucky

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the winter weather blanketing his state will cause some delays with Covid-19 vaccinations. During a Monday morning news conference, Beshear said “this weather is going to slow down our vaccinations,” but he hopes that the state will be able to make up for it next week after the last of the weather dissipates.

In Louisville, the LouVax vaccination site at Broadbent Arena will be closed Tuesday, the mayor said in a release.

Tennessee

The state’s department of health said several counties are closed on Tuesday, which in turn means they have been forced to cancel Covid-19 testing and vaccinations.A tweet from the department said those who had appointments for Tuesday will be contacted and appointments will be rescheduled.

Alabama

Alabama Public Health said due to the weather across the state, several counties have had to delay vaccinations.A full readout of each county can be found here.

Mississippi

“Due to hazardous weather conditions, all MSDH drive-through vaccination sites will be closed Tuesday with the exception of the Coast Coliseum site in Harrison County. Canceled appointments at all other sites will automatically be rescheduled for the same time on an alternate day,” the Mississippi Department of Health tweeted.

South Carolina

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control released a statement last week saying, “severe weather may delay the arrival of COVID-19 vaccine shipments over the next few days. Severe weather has the potential to impact the FedEx facility in Memphis and the UPS facility in Louisville that are vaccine shipping hubs for several southeastern states.The majority of hospitals and large vaccine providers in South Carolina receive their vaccine shipments directly from the federal government, and any shipping delays are beyond DHEC’s control.”

The department warned residents it may need to reschedule appointments to accommodate.

As the winter storm that blanketed parts of the South and Central US moves toward the Northeast today, a system that has been pouring cold precipitation on the West Coast is expected to take its place,

The National Weather Service in Houston said the storm will impact the region starting tonight through Thursday morning.

The service warned that roads and bridges will ice first.

Here’s a look at what the Houston area expects thought through Thursday:

Severe weather across the US is continuing to impact FedEx’s operations, including the ability to pick up and deliver in certain cities, according to a statement from the company.

FedEx also says that it has contingency plans to lessen the effect on operations and service and “implementing those plans as we’re able.”

As the sun rose this morning, it illuminated the broad swath of snow (white) captured by NOAA’s weather satellite as low clouds (yellow) moved across the region.

There have been 553 car crashes, two officers have been injured from ice falls and three people are dead as a result of severe winter weather that began Sunday in Houston, Police Chief Art AcevedotweetedTuesday.

“Our roadways are still very icy. Please avoid traveling unless absolutely necessary,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo said the reported deaths involved one homeless person and twopeoplewho died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also issued a warning to residents not to get on the roads.

“The roads are very dangerous this morning. Please wait a few hours before moving around if you must be out,” TurnertweetedTuesday.

More than 73% of the lower 48 states is currently covered bysnow,according to the daily “NationalSnowAnalysis”from NOAA’s Office of Water Prediction.

This is the highest coverage area in the historical record, which goes back to 2003, and uses a combination of ground reports, airborne and satellite measurements.

According to the analysis made at 6 a.m. ET this morning,snowcover was shown in 45 of the 48 states in the continental US. The only three states without snow cover are Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

A detailed view of the Dallas Stars shoulder logo on September 21, 2020, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The Dallas Stars home game against the Nashville Predators Tuesday night has been postponed due to the continued power outages in the Dallas area caused by severe weather, the NHL announced Tuesday.

Monday’s game between the two teams was also postponed due to the extreme weather and power outages.

Make-up dates for both contests will be announced as soon as they can be confirmed, the league said.

Here’s the NHL statement:

This frigid cold much of the US is experiencing is thanks to the polar vortex, a large area of low pressure located near the poles. It can break down during the winter months, sending cold air that has been bottled up, southward.

The polar vortex can be responsible for extremely frigid temperatures and huge plunges of cold air like the polar plunge the US is seeing now. Thus allowing sub-zero temperatures to reach all the way into southern states like Texas, Arkansas and slightly into Louisiana Tuesday morning.

The polar vortex has been weakened even more so this year by the Sudden Stratospheric Warmings that occur about six times a decade.

This caused the polar vortex to weaken even further, allowing cold air bottled up in the Arctic to be released southward, making for bitterly cold conditions much further south.

After a winter storm blanketed much of the Central US, including parts of Texas and Oklahoma, yesterday, the region is now bracing for another winter weather system.

Here’s the latest update from the National Weather Service in Oklahoma City:

There are more than 5.5 million US households without power as of Tuesday morning. According to poweroutage.us, 5,526,278 homes across 18 states have lost power due to snow, ice, and frigid conditions around the country.

Here are the state-by-state numbers as of 9:40 a.m. ET:

Hastings Utilities inHastings, Nebraska,said the cold weather has brought on an “unprecedented energy demand” with customers using more electricity and natural gas.

The demand is“surpassing the available generation across the Southwest Power Pool,” and inorder to reduce the strain, residents of Hastingsare being asked to prepare for rolling blackouts.

Vehicles driving on snow-covered Interstate 10 Monday in Houston

This morning has seen the coldest temperatures in decades for a large portion of the Central and Southern Plains, with morning lows dropping below zero all the way down to Texas.

Hundreds of record low temperatures have been set with the current cold blast, with many locations this morning seeing their coldest temperatures seen in decades, if ever.

Here’s a look at some of the temperatures this morning:

The Arctic air that spread into the continental US has allowed for cold temperature records to be shattered across the US. In the past 7 days, maximum temperatures were so cold that 1,381 record cold maximum temperatures were recorded, as well as 535 record-low minimum temperatures.

Grande Isle, Nebraska, recorded a low temperature 42 degrees below normal, with a low of -24 degrees and high of -7 degrees.This broke the low minimum and cold maximum records and was the coldest February day in 88 years. It also marked two days where the mercury did not rise above zero.

Hastings, Nebraska, also had 2 consecutive days subzero with temperatures 48 degrees below normal.Hastings also broke the all-time February low minimum and cold maximum records at -28 degrees and -8 degrees.

Further south, San Angelo, Texas hit -1 degree, which tied the all-time record low for the month of February set in 1985.

Records will continue to fall for the short term as the Arctic airmass slowly pushes east and hovers over the Great Lakes.Cold temperatures will remain in place in the far South through the weekend, allowing ice and snow to refreeze in the overnight hours and making travel treacherous and power outages sporadic into the weekend.Warmer air begins to move into the lower 48 this weekend, and temperatures will begin to moderate for the whole of the country by the middle of next week.

Ryan Rijken is one of at least four million people without power in Texas this morning after a winter storm and freezing temperatures knocked out service.

Rijken’s wife is eight months pregnant, and his two boys are ages 4 and 2. The temperature is hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit right now in his city of Celina, Texas, he told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.

The family has been staying bundled together in blankets to stay warm and sealing up the bottom of doors to retain heat.

While he says it is “frustrating,” they are trying to make it fun for their kids.

Eric Czarnecki goes sledding after a snow storm Monday in Fort Worth, Texas.

As the winter storm that blanketed parts of the South and Central US moves toward the Northeast today, a system that has been pouring cold precipitation on the West Coast is expected to take its place,

The National Weather Service in Dallas said a winter storm warning will go into effect tonight and stay in place through Thursday morning.

“Heavy mixed precipitation is expected,” the service warned.

Here’s the latest update from the National Weather Service in Dallas:

Texas, a state not used to the amount of snow it has seen, has suffered some of the worst impact from the storm.

More than 4.1 million customers are without power, according to Poweroutages.US, and daily life has been heavily impacted by the cold and the outages.

TheHouston Chronicleinformed subscribers Monday that it had been without power since 2 a.m. and that it didn’t expect to be able to produce a printed newspaper for Tuesday, according to a notice to subscribers.

The cold even interrupted cellular service in Fort Bend County on Monday night, Fort Bend County Judge KP George wrote on his verified Twitter account.

“Cell phone service is starting to break down over the region as back-up generators at towers are freezing or running out of fuel or both,”Judge George tweeted.

For Jamie Taylor, a mother of five in Dallas, the more than 18-hour power outage meant caring for her family in 45 degree temperatures inside her apartment.

“Currently wearing a sweatsuit, 2 robes, knee high Ugg boots and a beanie. We’re surviving on cereal and chips. Only slightly losing it,” shetweeted along with a photo of herself.

More than 4.7 million customers are without power across the US as many states are dealing with extreme cold. In Texas alone, over 4 million are without power, and temperatures are well below freezing across the entire state.

If you lose power, here are some tops to stay safe:

Awinter stormthat has pummeled much of the United States will move through the Northeast on Tuesday, leaving a trail of destruction across some states unaccustomed to such harsh weather.

As snow blankets typically temperate states like Texas and Oklahoma and power outages cause misery in Louisiana, about 200 million people remain under some sort of weather-related alert.

The storm is expected to move out through the Northeast late Tuesday, leaving a trail of heavy snow and ice in its path, CNN Meteorologist Tyler Mauldin said.

Temperatures are expected to rise as it moves — though record cold mornings and afternoons will linger through Saturday, Mauldin said. Millions are bracing for temperatures that feel below zero through late in the week.

But once the low-pressure system leaves states like Texas and Oklahoma, a system that has been pouring cold precipitation on the West Coast is expected to take its place with more wintry mischief, Maudlin said.

This infrared satellite imagery shows the storm exiting through the Northeast and the next one swinging into Texas:

Awinter stormthat has pummeled much of the United States will move through the Northeast on Tuesday, leaving a trail of destruction across some states unaccustomed to such harsh weather.

The storm blanketed typically temperate states like Texas and Oklahoma and power outages caused misery in Louisiana — and now the area is bracing for another bout of winter weather.

The National Weather Center warned that “another bout of significant winter weather” is expected to hit parts of the South, the Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley today through Thursday.

Here’s a look at what you can expect in these areas: