Record-Breaking Cold to Slam Central US and Strain Texas Grid

(Bloomberg) — Winter storms and record-breaking cold will descend on the central and southern US this week, snarling transportation and putting the fragile Texas power grid to yet another test.

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Temperatures are forecast to drop to 15F (-9C) in Dallas Wednesday night and 29F in Houston, the National Weather Service said. Readings in Chicago were below zero on Tuesday morning.

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Subzero wind chills will likely reach into Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky, which was devastated by flooding over the weekend. Extreme cold warnings push as far south as central Texas and cold weather advisories reach as far east as Maine.

“Right now a lot of real estate is covered by cold air,” said Andrew Orrison, a forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. “Tens of millions of people are being affected by the cold temperatures. This week is going to be a really cold week for the middle of February.”

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, said electricity demand will soar in the coming days but it expects to be able to meet the spike in consumption. Regulators and lawmakers have moved to bolster the state’s power system after the grid collapsed during a series of winter storms in 2021, killing hundreds of people as homes and businesses were left in the dark.

PJM Interconnection LLC, which oversees the grid from Chicago to the East Coast, issued a cold weather alert, asking power-plant operators to defer maintenance and testing if possible.

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Across mainly the central and southern US, about 250 daily cold records may be tied or broken through Friday, the Weather Prediction Center said. In the midst of the chill, a storm is forecast to bring as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow across parts of Missouri and Arkansas, as well as up to 6 inches in Kentucky, which will hamper recovery efforts from last weekend’s deadly flooding, Orrison said.

Over the past few weeks, the US South has been hit by multiple frigid blasts and winter storms, including one that blanketed New Orleans in snow. The current cold is rolling down from a large arctic high-pressure system moving across central Canada and the northern Great Plains. Forecasters said last week that the polar vortex — the girdle of winds that keeps cold air bottled up at the North Pole — has stretched, helping to push the chill further south.

Through Saturday, temperatures will remain at least 15F degrees below normal across Great Plains south to Texas, Commodity Weather Group said. Readings of at least 8F below average will hold sway along the East Coast from Maine to Florida, including New York.

By this weekend, the larger pattern will shift as the cold retreats and milder air off the Pacific spreads across much of the US, Orrison said. High temperatures across the northern Great Plains will reach into the 40sF and 50sF by this weekend, which will be an 80-degree swing from current readings, he said.

—With assistance from Naureen S. Malik.

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