{"id":423715,"date":"2026-01-29T10:59:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T09:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423715"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:59:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T09:59:25","slug":"winter-storm-wrecks-power-lines-as-hundreds-of-thousands-are-still-without-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=423715","title":{"rendered":"Winter Storm Wrecks Power Lines as Hundreds of Thousands are Still Without Power"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major winter storm has swept across much of the United States in late January 2026, bringing heavy snow, freezing rain, and ice that have caused widespread damage, particularly to power infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The storm’s freezing rain coated trees, branches, and power lines with thick ice, leading to snapped limbs, downed lines, and collapsed poles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has resulted in massive power outages, primarily in the South- hardest hit regions include Tennessee (especially around Nashville and Middle Tennessee), Mississippi, Louisiana, and parts of Texas and Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From The Institute for Energy Research<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By IER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electricity outages across the United States reached\u00a0nearly a million customers<\/a>\u00a0early Sunday afternoon, but by 10:30 p.m. Sunday, utility crews had reduced the number of outages to fewer than 805,000, mostly in the South, according to\u00a0poweroutage.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utility generators had to rely on natural gas, coal, and nuclear power to keep the lights on as the lack of sun wiped out solar power and limited wind and\/or freezing equipment reduced wind power output. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Northeast,\u00a0oil and wood<\/a>\u00a0saved the day as the lack of sufficient pipeline infrastructure limited additional gas-generated power. In the Northeast and Midwest, where more people get heat from natural gas, less of the fuel is available for power plants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More outages would have been the result if President Trump and Energy Secretary Wright had not kept coal plants from retiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Record-breaking temperatures are expected to last for much of the week with more than\u00a085 million people<\/a>\u00a0placed under\u00a0an extreme cold warning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the temperatures dip further, demand for power is expected to rise,\u00a0raising the possibility that more outages<\/a>\u00a0could occur.\u00a0It is estimated that storm damage could result in up to\u00a0$115 billion in losses<\/a>, according to AccuWeather.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As natural gas is in high demand and freezing conditions restrict gas output<\/a>, natural gas prices have risen to above\u00a0$6.20 per million British thermal units<\/a>\u00a0as of Monday morning,\u00a0the highest since December 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fuel of choice for data centers, natural gas output dropped as icy conditions forced drillers in regions such as the Permian shale basin in Texas and New Mexico to curb output due to \u201cfreeze-offs,\u201d when water and other liquids in the gas stream freeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Energy ordered<\/a>\u00a0the manager of the Texas power grid to begin using backup generation resources at data centers and other facilities that consume large amounts of energy to help prevent blackouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the agency, the order would aid the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, in maintaining grid operations through the \u201cextreme temperatures and storm destruction\u201d left by the weekend\u2019s powerful weather event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its 2025\u20132026\u00a0Winter Reliability Assessment<\/a>, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found that the ERCOT assessment area was at elevated risk. According to NERC, above-normal winter peak and outage conditions could result in the need for operating mitigations and Energy Emergency Alerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em>,\u00a0the Energy Department also waived emissions rules<\/a>\u00a0so fossil-fuel plants could run at maximum capacity. Early Sunday morning, coal accounted for some 40% of power in the Midwest\u2019s MISO grid, 24% in the eastern PJM Interconnection, and 18% in Texas, with most of the rest coming from natural gas and nuclear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power plants in New England burned oil, which accounted for 40% of electricity at peak demand, and the region generated more power from burning wood and trash than from wind power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back-up batteries for wind and solar did little as they can discharge power only for a few hours at a time and had no excess sun or wind power to recharge them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Texas did have some outages, the results were far better than during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 due to changes the state made post-Uri. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of early Monday morning, the state was\u00a0generating 89% of its power<\/a>\u00a0from reliable baseload fuels \u2014 67% from natural gas, 14% from coal, and 7% from nuclear, with just 9% coming from wind, none from solar, and 1.5% coming from batteries.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter Storm Fern has further revealed the importance of connecting reliable generation resources to the grid, without which numerous lives and dollars would be lost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

State-level policies forcing the retirement of coal plants and preventing the construction of natural gas and nuclear plants have led to the current situation facing the grid, where power plants are burning oil, wood, and trash, as the\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a>\u00a0reports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reducing carbon emissions by increasing renewable generation may sound good in theory, but the fact that solar and wind can\u2019t provide the same capacity during poor conditions makes their inclusion on the grid duplicative and expensive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the\u00a0Journal\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Editorial Board asks, \u201cIs the goal to reduce carbon emissions by making Americans freeze?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For inquiries, please contact <\/strong>wrampe@ierdc.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A major winter storm has swept across much of the United States in late January 2026, bringing heavy snow, freezing rain, and ice that have caused widespread damage, particularly to power infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The storm’s freezing rain coated trees, branches, and power lines with thick ice, leading to snapped limbs, downed lines, and collapsed poles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":423722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"A winter storm causes extensive power outages across the U.S., with freezing rain and snow impacting millions. Discover the storm's effects.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Winter Storm Causes Widespread Power Outages in US","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMVwvMEFRUFBDb1p5Q3poQ2R2WnQ5VGxBdnZPWXhRVVY0bFFTQ3ZFN01VVDgtdzdWaHR1UkQyTU1WTVVhcVpvOG5TeGZPeGo1bWtieGg4eFhsaDlGMGYxdVFUM2lac2h2SDUtaWpYdEdERXpBNUdMZWczaldMTUhCa3NpOXVHekY0ejFiLTEtMTAyNHg1NzIuanBlZyIsInR4dCI6IldpbnRlciBTdG9ybSBXcmVja3MgUG93ZXIgTGluZXMgYXMgSHVuZHJlZHMgb2YgVGhvdXNhbmRzIGFyZSBTdGlsbCBXaXRob3V0IFBvd2VyIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE1NTgxMjQ0OX0.C0nUx5htTpY7rskYxOQ5tEzEanP4vkrz4VLt2MQFBnEMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691840991,691840990,691819635,691823935,691821951,691818376,691818206,691840989,691818728,691822502],"class_list":{"0":"post-423715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-baseload-power","9":"tag-burning-wood-and-trash","10":"tag-coal","11":"tag-department-of-energy","12":"tag-ercot","13":"tag-natural-gas","14":"tag-nuclear-power","15":"tag-record-breaking-temperatures","16":"tag-wind-and-solar","17":"tag-winter","19":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0AQPPCoZyCzhCdvZt9TlAvvOYxQUV4lQSCvE7MUT8-w7VhtuRD2MMVMUaqZo8nSxfOxj5mkbxh8xXlh9F0f1uQT3iZshvH5-ijXtGDEzA5GLeg3jWLMHBksi9uGzF4z1b-1.jpeg?fit=1699%2C949&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Me7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":427039,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=427039","url_meta":{"origin":423715,"position":0},"title":"Texas Showdown: ERCOT vs Winter Storm Fern","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Texans recently experienced our worst winter storm since Uri in February 2021. Here in the DFW area, the temperature dropped below freezing early on Saturday morning, January 24, and stayed below 32 \u00b0F until the afternoon of January 27. In Dallas, we experienced freezing rain, sleet and snow for two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Energy\"","block_context":{"text":"Energy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=energy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0Screenshot-2026-02-19-172128.png?fit=1200%2C603&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0Screenshot-2026-02-19-172128.png?fit=1200%2C603&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0Screenshot-2026-02-19-172128.png?fit=1200%2C603&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0Screenshot-2026-02-19-172128.png?fit=1200%2C603&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0Screenshot-2026-02-19-172128.png?fit=1200%2C603&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":294638,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294638","url_meta":{"origin":423715,"position":1},"title":"Bloomberg: \u201cDon\u2019t be Fooled, Snow is Becoming a Thing of the Past\u201d","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/01\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Ignore your lying eyes, what you are seeing is frozen heaps of global warming?","rel":"","context":"In \"Bloomberg\"","block_context":{"text":"Bloomberg","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bloomberg"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Screenshot-2024-01-12-090049.png?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Screenshot-2024-01-12-090049.png?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Screenshot-2024-01-12-090049.png?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Screenshot-2024-01-12-090049.png?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0Screenshot-2024-01-12-090049.png?fit=1200%2C854&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":245442,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=245442","url_meta":{"origin":423715,"position":2},"title":"Heavy snow hits parts of southern California stories","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Heavy snow fell in southern California on Friday, as the first blizzard in a generation pounded the hills around Los Angeles, with heavy rains threatening flooding in other\u00a0places.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/0Screenshot-2023-02-25-122439.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/0Screenshot-2023-02-25-122439.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/0Screenshot-2023-02-25-122439.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/0Screenshot-2023-02-25-122439.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/0Screenshot-2023-02-25-122439.png?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":426749,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=426749","url_meta":{"origin":423715,"position":3},"title":"Can grid handle next Winter Storm Fern, solar flare, or enemy attack?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"U.S. mostly dodged disaster this time. 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