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A winter storm is poised to pummel Texas and the US South later this week, putting the region at risk of blackouts and travel mayhem.

About 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of snow and ice will fall across southern Oklahoma and Texas, including Dallas, coating trees, roads and power lines from San Antonio to northern Louisiana, said Peter Mullinax, a forecaster at the .

The system “is going to be a disruptive one with significant accumulations of snow and ice,” Mullinax said. It will start to build Wednesday night, getting stronger on Thursday before sweeping east across the South on Friday.

The storm is likely to trigger widespread power outages, snarl transportation in a region where snow plows and salt trucks are rare, and ground or delay airline traffic. While temperatures won’t approach the extreme lows seen during the February 2021 storm that killed more than 200 people and left millions without power for days, any recurrence of cold raises concern about the stability of the state’s .

Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, warned of possible tight power conditions Jan. 8 through Jan. 10 due to the storm. The highest probability of freezing rain is from the Hill Country into Northeast Texas, Ercot’s meteorologists said in a website Monday.

Still, Ercot expects to have enough supply to meet the increased electricity usage. is forecast to reach about 72.8 gigawatts on Wednesday from 7 to 8 a.m., up from Tuesday’s estimated of 68.9 gigawatts for the same period.

for Tuesday topped $100 a megawatt-hour for the Ercot North hub, which include Dallas, for 7 to 8 am.. That hour is seen as the for potential supply shortfalls in extreme conditions because demand is climbing at that time and the sun hasn’t yet risen high enough to generate solar power.

Even before the storm arrives, Texas has been struggling with cold temperatures. Dallas-Fort Worth reached an average of 31F Monday (minus 1C), or 15 below normal, according to the National Weather Service.

Houston’s average for the day was 39F, which was also 15 below normal. Cold weather advisories cover large parts of the US Gulf Coast from Texas to the Florida Panhandle, as well as parts of the Southwest. High winds are making temperatures feel even colder.

Extreme cold can disrupt oil and gas production by causing water vapor in natural gas to freeze, creating blockages in wells, pipelines and processing facilities. While US gas output is down about 6% from a week ago, according to data compiled by BloombergNEF, there are no signs yet of widespread production snags. The Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico is the most prolific US shale basin.

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Snow will fall as the Dallas-Fort Worth area prepares for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic between the University of Texas and Ohio State football teams. As of Monday, organizers said the game is still scheduled for Friday.

The troubles won’t be isolated to snow and ice. There’s also a risk of heavy rain along the Gulf of Mexico coast from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana, which could lead to flooding in cities including Houston.

As the storm moves east, snow is forecast to pile up from central Arkansas to Memphis, Mullinax said. The system’s track will determine any further impacts, which may include snow in Asheville, North Carolina, where residents are still recovering from 2024’s Hurricane Helene.

While temperatures will drop to freezing and below during the storm, readings will become milder once the weekend arrives.

Photo: US and Texas state flags in Irving, Texas, on Feb. 03, 2022. Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images

Topics Texas