COMING: Gov. Abbott Briefing on Severe Weather Affecting Texas

The live press conference will appear in the video player above..

Texas governor Greg Abbott (R) will hold a press conference with state officials on Tuesday, January 31 at 10:30 a.m. from the State Operations Center in Austin regarding the state’s response to the severe winter weather that has affected Texas this week.

Winter Storm Warnings and ice storm warnings have been in place for most of Texas since Monday, including Dallas and Fort Worth, where the warning is in effect until 6 a.m. Thursday.

National Weather Service office in Fort Worth said it has received numerous reports of accidents on bridges, viaducts and unpaved roads as a band of moderate sleet moves over the Metroplex and road conditions continue to worsen.

Officials from ERCOT, the state power grid operator, say the grid is currently stable and that they are not requesting any areas for energy savings. ERCOT officials are confident that Texas will avoid any nutritional problems as icy weather and low temperatures have affected North Texas and other parts of the state this week.

Power grid experts who spoke with NBC 5 warned that ice could affect wind turbines that generate power in West Texas and the Texas Panhandle, and cloud cover was expected to limit solar power production. Temperature in Houston and San Antonio are expected to stay above freezing, which could help greatly ease any power issues.

Weather forecast for this week very different from February 2021, when powerful winter storm caused severe frosts in Texas that lasted several days and caused power outages that left millions in the dark.

Warmer temperatures in South Texas this week should significantly reduce power demand across the state, leaving a very low chance of any massive power outages, grid watchers said.

“There is a bit of snow and ice associated with it, but nothing like that during Uri, I mean, it was, you know, just an extraordinary event. And it doesn’t look like it at all,” said Doug Levin, an Austin-based energy consultant.

ERCOT is reminding Texans facing a power outage to call their local electricity supplier.