Ice knocks out power to thousands in San Antonio
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
As many as 45,000 CPS Energy customers lost power Wednesday before utility crews repaired lines downed by ice and falling tree limbs.
Why it matters: This week's storm, which rolled in late Monday, was the latest test of the state's power grid and local utilities.
- Unlike the 2021 deadly freeze, temperatures in the San Antonio area hovered near freezing and residential outages were localized, rather than part of bigger problems with the state's grid.
By the numbers: Still, the weather system's effects were felt across the metro area.
- Today at 6am, 113 outages were affecting 4,395 CPS customers.
- There were 42 downed wires as of Wednesday afternoon.
- There were 63 flight cancellations and 41 delays at San Antonio International Airport, according to FlightAware.com.
- More than 1,100 gallons of natural de-icing agent were dispersed across unincorporated Bexar County.
- There were 11 weather-related crashes, according to SAPD. None were fatal.
Zoom out: At least seven people in Texas have died and more than 390,000 customers lacked power statewide, most along a swath from San Antonio northeast to Paris.
- The combination of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and Arctic air spilling south from Canada resulted in a long-duration ice storm for millions of people across at least eight states, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.
What's next: We're warming up. According to the National Weather Service forecast, today's high is 49°, which is the warmest we've been all week.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the number of weather-related crashes.