The February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm, unofficially referred to as Winter Storm Uri, was a major winter and ice storm that had widespread impacts across the United States, Northern Mexico, and parts of Canada from February 13 to 17. The storm started out in the Pacific Northwest and quickly moved into the Southern United States, before moving on to the Midwestern and Northeastern United States a couple of days later.
The storm resulted in over 170 million
Americans being placed under various winter weather alerts being issued by the National
Weather Service in the United States across the country and caused blackouts
for over 9.9 million people in the U.S. and Mexico, most notably the 2021 Texas
power crisis. The blackouts were the
largest in the U.S. since the Northeast blackout of 2003. The storm also brought severe destructive
weather to Southeastern United States, including several tornadoes. On February
16, there were at least 20 direct fatalities and 13 indirect fatalities
attributed to the storm; by February 19, the death toll had risen to at least
70, including 58 people in the United States and 12 people in Mexico. The damages from the blackouts are expected
to reach $19 billion (2021 USD).
Meteorological History
On February 13, a frontal storm
developed off the coast of the Pacific Northwest and moved ashore, before
moving southeastward, with the storm becoming disorganized in the process. During this time, the storm reached a minimum
pressure of 992 millibars (29.3 inHg) over the Rocky Mountains. On the same day, The Weather Channel gave the
storm the unofficial name Winter Storm Uri, due to the expected
impacts from the storm; the Federal Communications Commission later adopted the
name in their reports after February 17.
Over the next couple of days the storm began to develop as it entered
the Southern United States and moved into Texas. On February 15, the system developed a new surface
low off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, as the storm turned northeastward
and expanded in size.
On February 16, the storm developed
another low-pressure center to the north as the system grew more organized,
while moving towards the northeast. Later
that day, the storm broke in half, with the newer storm moving northward into Quebec,
while the original system moved off the East Coast of the U.S. By the time the winter storm exited the U.S. late on February
16, the combined snowfall from the multiple winter storms within the past month
had left nearly 75% of the contiguous United States covered by snow. On February
17, the storm's secondary low dissipated as the system approached landfall on Newfoundland,
intensifying in the process. At 12:00
UTC that day, the storm's central pressure reached 985 millibars
(29.1 inHg), as the center of the storm moved over Newfoundland. On the same day, the storm was given the
name Belrem by the Free University of Berlin. The storm continued to strengthen as it moved
across the North Atlantic, with the storm's central pressure dropping to 960
millibars (28 inHg) by February 19.
On February 20, the storm developed a second-low pressure area and
gradually began to weaken, as it moved northwestward towards Iceland. Afterward, the storm turned westward and
moved across southern Greenland on February 22, weakening even further as it
did so. The storm then stalled south of
Greenland, while continuing to weaken, before dispersing on February 24.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_13%E2%80%9317,_2021_North_American_winter_storm
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2021 Texas Power Crisis
The 2021 Texas power crisis is
an ongoing crisis in the state of Texas in the United States involving mass utilities failure, such
as power outages, water and food shortages, and dangerous weather conditions. The crisis was the result of two severe
winter storms sweeping across the United States on February 10–11 and 13–17. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses in
Texas were left without power, some for several days. The cause of the power
outages was initially blamed on frozen wind turbines by some Republican government
officials, including Texas governor Greg Abbott, but frozen natural gas lines and instruments were
found to be the main cause. The
crisis caused many experts to call into question the state's preparedness for
such a storm, especially in light of its deregulated energy market. The damages from the blackouts are expected
to reach $19 billion (2021 USD.
Background of the Storm
In mid-February 2021, a series of severe
winter storms swept across the United States. This outbreak was due to the jet
stream dipping particularly far south into the U.S., stretching from Washington
to Texas, and running back north along the East Coast, allowing a polar vortex to
bring very cold air across the country and spawning multiple storms along the
jet stream track as a result. This
weather phenomenon resulted in record low temperatures throughout Texas, with
temperatures in Dallas, Austin and San Antonio falling below temperatures in Anchorage,
Alaska.
On February 10, a winter storm formed north
of the Gulf coast, dropping significant amounts of sleet and ice on many states
in the Deep South and the Ohio Valley, including Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas,
Tennessee, and states on the East Coast.
A second storm developed off the Pacific Northwest on February 13 and
began to gradually develop into an organized storm as it tracked southward Texas.
It grew even more organized as it turned toward the northeast US before
splitting in half—one half continued into Quebec and the other moving out over
the Atlantic Ocean. This storm, along
with various other storms from the previous two weeks, resulted in over 75% of
the contiguous U.S. being covered in snow.
This storm was directly responsible for nearly 10 million people losing
power, with 5.2 million in the US and 4.7 million in Mexico. At least 58 people lost their lives, and a
tornado outbreak from the storm spanned Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina.
The winter storm caused a record low
temperature at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport of −2 °F
(−19 °C) on February 16, the coldest in North Texas in 72 years. Power equipment in Texas was not winterized,
leaving it vulnerable to extended periods of cold weather. Texas Governor Greg Abbott and some other
politicians initially blamed renewable energy sources for the power outages,
citing frozen wind turbines as an example of their unreliability. However, renewable energy accounts for only
23% of Texas power output; moreover, equipment for other energy sources such as
natural gas power generating facilities either freezing up or having mechanical
failures were more responsible. Viral
images of a helicopter de-icing a Texas wind turbine were actually an image
from Sweden taken in 2015. Governor
Abbott later acknowledged that every source of power, not just renewable ones,
had failed. Five times more natural gas
than wind power had been lost. When
power was cut, it disabled some compressors that push gas through pipelines,
knocking out further gas plants due to lack of supply.
During the 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard,
Texas had faced similar power outages due to frozen power equipment, after
which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reported that more winterizing
of power infrastructure was necessary. ERCOT
said that some generators since then implemented new winter "best
practices," but these were on a voluntary basis and mandatory regulation
had not been established.
Gov. Abbott's appointees to the Public
Utility Commission of Texas ended a contract with the Texas Reliability Entity
in November 2020, reducing oversight of the grid. In July, Abbott's comissioners disbanded its
Oversight and Enforcement Division, dropping pending cases that ensure
reliability. While not a direct cause,
the Commission's minimal oversight of utility companies, limited budget, and
voluntary standards restricted its ability to secure consistent performance.
Power Outages
In addition to equipment problems,
demand for electricity in Texas hit a record 69,150 megawatts (MW) on February
14—3,200 MW higher than the previous record set in January 2018. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
initiated rotating outages at 1:25am on February 15. The rotating outages prevented electricity demand
from overwhelming the grid, a scenario which could have caused equipment to
catch fire and power lines to go down, potentially resulting in a much more
severe blackout.
At the peak, over 5 million people in
Texas were without power, some for more than 3 days. These outages have been felt
disproportionately in lower-income and minority ethnic ZIP codes.
During the period of outages, wholesale electric
prices went to as high as $9,000/megawatt-hour which was limited as a
"system cap", compared to a more typical $50/MWh. Customers with pricing
plans based on wholesale prices who had power faced large bills. Some Griddy customers signed up for wholesale
variable rates plans allowed by the Texas deregulated electricity market, found
themselves facing over $5,000 bills for five days of service during the storm. Wholesale prices stayed at $9,000 for about
four days, which is a cap set by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
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