Watch in Real Time as the Texas Power Grid Keeps Up with Our Current Artic Blast

If you ask East Texans about the winter of 2021, you'll probably get a mean mug back. That winter brought the most snow and coldest temperatures any of us had seen in a very long time. To make matters worse, most of Texas was without power for up to four days, or longer, because the grid that was supposed to keep everything on couldn't keep up with the massive demand. Since that time, the question has come up many times if that same grid would be able to keep up with any kind of extreme weather like the brutal cold that has settled over East Texas.

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Brutal Cold in East Texas

A cold front made its way through East Texas bringing a wintry mix and temperatures in the teens over the weekend. This morning (January 15) we had a light covering of snow on the ground that made traveling treacherous for many. Add in temperatures in the teens with wind chills in the single digits, or even below zero, and East Texans are miserable. We'll stay below freezing until Wednesday afternoon. After that thaw, we'll see some more cold temperatures for next weekend but without the precipitation.

Texas Power Grid Concerns

Since the winter of 2021, the Texas power grid has been under constant scrutiny anytime there is a moment of extreme weather. During the days of oppressive heat this past summer, many wondered if the grid could keep up to keep our homes cool. It did. Those same scrutinizers are wondering if the grid will be able to keep up with this artic blast.

Monitoring the Texas Power Grid

It is possible to see how the Texas power grid is holding up against the supply that is needed to keep homes warm. ERCOT, or Electric Reliability Council of Texas, has a dashboard available to look at online that gives real time stats of how the grid is performing. One of the most important stats is the energy supply versus the demand. I took this screenshot of the supply and demand for today, January 15, at 10:06 a.m.

The solid purple line is the energy supply while the turquoise line is the demand. So yes, at 10:06 a.m. today, the grid was handling everything very well.

The dashboard has a wealth of other stats to go along with the power being generated to Texas. You can see it all at ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards. In the meantime, hunker down and be glad we only have to deal with this for another day or so. Then we can get back to walking around in shorts and flip flops.