Massive winter storm triggers chaos across the country

Coast-to-coast weather system caused particular chaos across Texas, where rolling blackouts left people in the dark and without electricity amid teeth-chattering temperatures.

AccuWeather Global Weather Center – February 15, 2021 –  The most unrelenting winter weather pattern in decades unleashed brutally unseasonable cold and record snowfall deep into Texas, sparked harrowing scenes on roadways across the middle of the country and left millions of customers of customers without power over the weekend. The coast-to-coast weather system caused particular chaos across Texas, where rolling blackouts left people in the dark and without electricity amid teeth-chattering temperatures.

Heavily populated cities were in the throes of punishing cold on Monday morning. In Dallas, the thermometer read 7 degrees with an AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature of -19. To the north in Oklahoma City, conditions were even more brutal with the mercury at -7 and an AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature of -35. Across the state of Texas, more than 2.6 million customers were without power amid the sub-freezing temps and wintry precipitation.

Multiple areas throughout the Lone Star State also have maximum daily snowfall records broken, including in Abilene and San Angelo, where more than 10 inches fell.

In Abilene, a Valentine’s Day total of 14-plus inches broke a record that had stood for decades. The city also recorded a low temperature of 5 degrees for the day, matching a record low for the date.

Such cold air also triggered “rolling blackouts” which were supposed to temporarily knock out power for many residents for less than an hour. However, the bitter cold has triggered a “statewide power generation shortfall emergency,” according to a statement from CenterPoint Energy.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) began initiating power outages early Monday morning to conserve energy and has urged residents to close blinds, unplug appliances and hold off on doing laundry to minimize energy usage.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner faced backlash for the outages as many took to Twitter to express frustration at the blackouts and disappointment in the city’s lack of preparation.

The storm began in the Northwest but spread across the country as Oregon, Virginia and North Carolina were among the hardest-hit states in terms of outages.

A path of snow extended from the westernmost parts of Washington and Oregon, down to New Mexico and Texas, all the way to Michigan.

While snow was spreading across the country, ice began to coat the roads in Nashville, Tennessee. The Nashville Fire Department sent multiple resources to assist with an accident involving multiple vehicles that occurred on I-24 on Saturday. Emergency responders asked for people to avoid the area or to use extreme caution if travel is a must.

On Sunday, an accident between multiple semi-trucks and passenger vehicles turned fiery on the Turner Turnpike westbound in Oklahoma. Traffic relating to the crash is being diverted to Hogback road, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol tweeted.

According to The Oklahoman, the crash involved two semi-trucks and at least six vehicles. Several people were transported to a hospital.

In neighboring Texas, the number of car accidents across Texas climbed sharply in the evening as many road became impassible. At one point early Sunday night, as snow and ice pummeled the state, there were over 130 active car accidents in the Houston area alone, according to local officials.

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