FIVE YEARS AGO: A look back at the historic February 2021 winter storm in San Antonio<\/a><\/p>\nLocal meteorologists, including the KSAT Weather Authority, have adopted similar strategies. After 2021, community anxiety around winter weather rose sharply.<\/p>\n
Meteorologist Adam Caskey reflected on how messaging evolved:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe messaging changed throughout. The biggest takeaway is since then, the message has gone from \u2018there\u2019s a chance of wintry weather\u2019 to it being a novel, to it being nerve\u2011racking for folks.\u201d<\/p>\n
City-wide lessons<\/p>\n
The storm\u2019s impact went far beyond icy roads and rolling power outages. For city agencies like CPS Energy and the San Antonio Water System (SAWS), the winter storm left a lasting impact and prompted operational changes. <\/p>\n
CPS Energy sent KSAT the following statement in response to a request for comment:<\/p>\n
In addition to our year-round conservation outreach, we host seasonal press conferences each summer and winter regarding our preparedness efforts. These briefings highlight the work our teams complete to prepare power plants for extreme temperatures and provide customers with clear information on how to contact us for assistance along with safety and energy savings tips.\u201d<\/p>\n
CPS Energy<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, SAWS recalled widespread confusion among residents trying to determine whether frozen household pipes or system-wide failures caused their water outages.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were trying to figure out, \u2018is it my house, or is it the system?\u2019\u201d said Anne Hayden, Communications Director for SAWS. \u201cIf your pipes freeze at your house, a lot of people think the water is out, but it isn\u2019t just the pipes at your house.\u201d<\/p>\n
That confusion triggered a massive surge in demand for information.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur website actually got 10 times the number of hits that it normally does,\u201d Hayden said. \u201cMost people were getting their information about their water service through our website.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hayden says they\u2019ve also built ready-to-use cold\u2011weather graphics so residents know exactly what tools and preparations they need before temperatures drop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe now have graphics that are ready that we advise. You know, if it\u2019s going into cold weather, make sure you have these tools at your house.\u201d<\/p>\n
SAWS now leans heavily on email and text alert systems to deliver critical information directly to customers, especially during power outages.<\/p>\n
From meteorologists to water system officials, the message is clear: The 2021 winter storm permanently changed how San Antonio communicates during weather emergencies. <\/p>\n
Agencies now prioritize clarity, real-world impacts and proactive outreach to protect residents when winter weather threatens again.<\/p>\n
Whatever the Weather<\/p>\n
A collection of daily blog posts from the KSAT Weather Authority.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Five years have passed since the devastating 2021 winter storm that crippled Texas, leaving millions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[38645,82,84,83,12326,8083,9181],"class_list":{"0":"post-170736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-cold","9":"tag-san-antonio","10":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","11":"tag-san-antonio-news","12":"tag-snow","13":"tag-whatever-the-weather","14":"tag-winter-weather"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170736","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=170736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}