Dominic Walsh/HPM
Houston Mayor John Whitmire speaks at a press conference ahead of a winter storm on Jan. 23, 2026.
With a winter storm expected to drop temperatures in the Houston area below freezing Saturday night, possibly lingering until Monday, Houston Mayor John Whitmire asked residents to prepare.
Whitmire urged residents to “be where you need to be” by midnight Saturday night.
“Putting it in perspective, 135 Texas counties have already been declared [a] disaster by Gov. Abbott,” Whitmire said. “The conditions that brought about those declarations are headed this way. And if you don’t remember another thing I say today, ‘it’s be prepared, be cautious.'”
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Both a winter storm warning and extreme cold warning are set to go into effect for the greater Houston area on Saturday evening as the forecast calls for sub-freezing temperatures and negative wind chills north of Interstate 10, according to the National Weather Service.
Temperatures will start to fall on Saturday evening, bringing a forecasted low of 31 degrees in Houston on Saturday night. Sunday and Monday night are both expected to have lows of 20 degrees, according to the weather service. Areas north of I-10 have the potential for even lower temperatures.
Whitmire said that roads within the city are currently being treated and prepared. The city will be opening 12 warming centers starting Saturday at 5 p.m., with nine being equipped with generators. The warming centers will be open until Tuesday morning. Whitmire said no one would be turned away and that no one would be checking anyone’s immigration status at the centers.
Brian Mason, the director of the Houston Office of Emergency Management, said the three centers without warming centers have been “elevated and prioritized” by CenterPoint Energy. Mason said this means the three stations would be prioritized in the event of rolling blackouts or loss of power due to storm damage.
The city does not expect widespread power outages, and Whitmire said utility company CenterPoint will have workers on standby to restore isolated outages due to ice or other weather-related damage to powerlines.
RELATED: CenterPoint activates emergency operations center ahead of weekend freeze
Mason said his office was currently at level 3 — meaning enhanced awareness — and that it would increase to level, meaning high preparedness, starting Saturday evening.
“As far as cold, we know it’s going to get cold, it’s going to get very, very, very cold,” Mason said. “We’ll have lots of our partners, the [Emergency Operations Center] will be filled with a lot of our partners from the city, state and county levels to support us throughout the event.”
Mason said residents can sign up to get alerts from the city by texting “alerthouston” to 888777.
Houston METRO said that it would be suspending services at 9 p.m., except for the METRO rail service. On Sunday, all services except the rail and METRO Lift. METRO Lift will be offering residents emergency transportation to warming centers, according to the city.
The city is also advising residents not to drip their pipes to prevent excess stress on the city’s water infrastructure that could lead to a boil notice. Residents are advised to wrap or drain their pipes to prevent freezing.
Whitmire said he would be holding another press conference at 9 a.m. on Sunday to update the city.
Houston Public Media’s Dominic Walsh contributed to this article.