This is the number one question that I\u2019ve been answering since we first saw hints of a winter storm this coming weekend: Will this be a repeat of the crippling ice storm of 2021? <\/p>\n
The short answer is NO, it will not. The ice storm of 2021 was a perfect storm of extreme cold, widespread ice, and freezing temperatures that lingered for days \u2014 overwhelming our energy infrastructure that simply wasn\u2019t built for that kind of prolonged stress. <\/p>\n
2021 Freezing days (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s natural to think back to 2021 anytime winter weather shows up in Houston, but this weekend\u2019s forecast is shaping up very differently. Look at the graphic below, it shows the 7 days of sub-freezing temperatures starting on Valentine\u2019s Day in 2021 and lasting through the end of the weekend for the entire week.<\/p>\n
February 2021 temps (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a large part of why we froze and saw crippling conditions. The ground was well frozen and we could not thaw out once the snow and ice arrived. <\/p>\n
This time, the cold is expected to be shorter-lived, moisture looks more limited, and temperatures should recover faster, which significantly lowers the risk of widespread icing and long-term impacts. <\/p>\n
Sunday AM Temps (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
On top of that, the power grid and local agencies like CenterPoint and Entergy have spent the past few years hardening systems, adding safeguards, and improving communication to prevent the kind of cascading failures we saw during the storm in 2021. <\/p>\n
Extreme cold weather watch (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
The one fly in the ointment this week is the bitterly cold air that is headed here once the storm has passed. Even if SE Texas doesn\u2019t get the higher end of ice, which it is starting to look like it will, any leftover wet roads will likely glaze over for a slippery and icy Monday morning. <\/p>\n
Sunday AM wind chill (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Monday AM Temps (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
The difference from 2021 is that we will likely only be below freezing for about 30-36 hours and the ground has been VERY warm as temps have been consistently sitting in the 60s and low 70s for a number of days ahead of this system. <\/p>\n
10-day Forecast (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n
Bottom line: this weekend may bring inconveniences and cold conditions, but the setup just doesn\u2019t match the historic and long-lasting event we experienced in 2021.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the number one question that I\u2019ve been answering since we first saw hints of a winter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,42740,46440,172,12398],"class_list":["post-134849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-texas-freeze","tag-texas-storm","tag-weather","tag-winter-storm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}