Winter Chill Gripping Central US Breaks Temperature Records

Intense cold will grip the central and southern US for at least another day, sending temperatures to all-time lows in some cities before milder weather is set to arrive over the weekend.

At least 40 daily cold records have been broken and another 15 were being threatened as the sun broke Thursday across the US, said Scott Kleebauer, a forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. This includes Kansas City, which dropped to -9F (-23C).

“Today is the last really cold day across the country,” Kleebauer said. “As of now, a little more than 130 million people are under cold weather advisories or extreme cold warnings.”

Much of the US South depends on electricity for heating, and the frigid temperatures have sent demand soaring. Power demand on the Texas grid rose to 80.379 gigawatts Thursday morning, setting an all-time winter record for the second consecutive day, according to preliminary data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the system. These are levels typically only seen during the warmer months. The average grid price for 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. local time jumped to $813.12 a megawatt-hour, up from about $52 a day earlier.

Kleebauer said Texas will remain cold Thursday, with Dallas staying below freezing, while Houston will only reach into the 40sF.

Regulators and lawmakers have moved to bolster the state’s power system after the grid collapsed during a series of winter storms in 2021, killing hundreds of people as homes and businesses were left in the dark.

PJM Interconnection LLC, which oversees the grid from Chicago to the East Coast, issued a cold weather alert earlier this week, asking power-plant operators to defer maintenance and testing if possible.

By this weekend, much of the US will begin to thaw. Dallas will see a 45-degree swing in temperatures with a high of 58F forecast for Sunday, while Kansas City is set to reach 48F.