Winter Storm Heading for Texas Grounds Flights and Menaces Grid

On January 8, 2025By Littum

(Bloomberg) — Flight cancellations are already piling up as a winter storm bears down on Texas and the southern United States, bringing snow and ice that could cover power lines and trigger power outages.

Most read from Bloomberg

From As of 7:30 a.m. in New York, at least 169 flights from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport had been canceled Thursday, according to FlightAware. Cancellations could also hit major US air hub Atlanta, which is expected to see snow and freezing rain on Friday.

At least 23 million people from Texas to the southern Appalachian Mountains are under winter storm watches, said Peter Mullinax, a forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center.

“It’s going to be a pretty low-key travel lineup,” Mullinax said. “Any air or road trip is looking at the potential for quite a few impacts.”

The storm, which could bring 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of snow along with ice across North Texas, has also raised the specter of problems for power grids in the region.

Although temperatures will not drop to the extreme lows seen during the February 2021 storm that killed more than 200 people and left millions in the dark for days, the latest cold snap is raising concerns about the stability of the state’s fragile power grid.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, warned of possible tight power conditions Jan. 8 through Jan. 10 because of the storm. PJM Interconnection, which oversees the grid serving more than 65 million people from Washington DC to Chicago, is asking transmission and power plant operators to consider postponing any maintenance during this period and to ensure the fuel supply to generators.

–With assistance from Naureen S. Malik.