ERCOT issues notice ahead of strongest cold front in Texas this season

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the agency that runs the power grid in Texas, issued an operational notice ahead of the freezing temperatures heading to the area next week. The National Weather Service forecasts the extreme cold weather will be the strongest front of the season, according to a tweet from the agency on Tuesday, January 9.

Officials with ERCOT issued an OCN (operating condition notice) for the predicted extreme cold weather event from Monday, January 15 through Wednesday, January 17, according to its website. OCN is the first of four levels of communication issued by ERCOT in anticipation of a possible emergency condition. 

NWS said the cold front will arrive Sunday night. There will be a 20-30 percent chance that highs could stay below freezing temperatures on Monday. There will also be a high probability that lows will be below 25 degrees for much of the San Antonio and Austin area on Tuesday, according to the NWS.

Officials with the NWS said the office will likely issue a Wind Chill Advisory depending on how cold it gets in the area. 

In February 2021, a historical winter event occurred that set many records, including becoming the first billion-dollar weather disaster of that year. A deep freeze impacted parts of the continental United States, engulfing the entire state of Texas. 

During that time, ERCOT ordered city-owned utility businesses, like CPS Energy, to participate in rolling power outages. However, the outages weren’t exactly rolling in 15-minute outages as ERCOT planned. At the peak of the outage, nearly 10 million people were in the dark, lacking warmth and the ability to cook food. The freeze also caused water pipes to burst and boil water advisories were issued in many counties.