Austin winter storm warning: What to know about schools, roads, the grid and more

The National Weather Service is warning Austinites of freezing temperatures, snow and slick, icy roads for the next few days. A winter storm warning is in effect from 6 p.m. Monday to 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The daytime temperatures on Monday and Tuesday are forecast to be near freezing, and the “feels like” temperature could be in the teens due to the wind chill.

Mack Morris, a meteorologist for the NWS, expects about 1-2 inches of snow and sleet in the Austin area starting Monday evening. He said by Wednesday afternoon, all the ice and snow should have melted away and Austin will be back to typical winter temperatures.

School closures

Schools were already closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Here are local K-12 districts that are closed Tuesday due to the weather:

• Austin ISD
• Bastrop ISD
• Del Valle ISD
• Dripping Springs ISD
• Eanes ISD
• Georgetown ISD
• Hays CISD
• Lago Vista ISD
• Lake Travis ISD
• Leander ISD
• Round Rock ISD
• San Marcos CISD

Check your school district’s website for the latest updates.

UT Austin, Texas State University and Austin Community College said they will be closed and classes will be canceled on Tuesday. Huston-Tillotson University said it will transition to remote classes and work operations on Tuesday.

Roads

If you can, avoid driving on Monday night and Tuesday.

“If you are commuting to work and from work [Monday], the afternoon and evening hours could become a little tricky,” Morris said. “We expect precipitation to begin around 6 p.m., but if it starts earlier it could be a big problem.”

NWS says it anticipates travel impacts mainly on bridges, overpasses and any untreated roads.

Capital Metro will end service by 9 p.m. Monday. The transit agency was already operating at Saturday-level service due to the holiday.

CapMetro said it expects delays on Tuesday — check for the latest updates on the service alerts page.

Pipes

To help avoid water freezing and potentially cracking pipes, plumbers recommend people drip their faucets, particularly in rooms that have at least one exterior wall. They also recommend people open cabinet doors underneath sinks to let the hot air from their homes warm pipes.

Plumbers in the Austin area say they haven’t yet had an influx of calls related to frozen or burst pipes. But they anticipate that could change once temperatures start to climb on Wednesday, giving pipes a chance to thaw.

“If your line is frozen, it might be leaking water, but you’re not gonna see that full gush, that water busting out, until that entire line has thawed out,” said Fabian Pecina, a manager with L&P Plumbing.

The plumbers KUT spoke with agreed this month’s freeze is unlikely to cause the massive damage seen in 2021. Back then, freezing temperatures cut off many power sources across the state, forcing millions of people to live without power for days. The lower temperatures inside homes meant that pipes froze more easily, leading to water leaks and insurance payouts totaling roughly $408 million to property owners in Travis County.

“Unless we also have rolling blackouts or, God forbid, another grid failure, we should be in much better shape,” said Mike Marugo, plumbing operations manager at ABC Home & Commercial Services.

Grid conditions

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which manages the state’s electric grid, has issued a weather watch for Monday through Thursday, but it expects grid conditions to be normal. That means it doesn’t anticipate making a conservation call or resorting to rolling blackouts. You can check on ERCOT’s energy forecast here.

Many of the power outages that people experience aren’t because of the state grid, but problems with local systems, — like trees knocking down power lines. The risk of that happening depends on the type of precipitation that falls — freezing rain that creates ice on tree branches is more dangerous than snow. You can check on Austin Energy outages here.

Find more information on the risks to both state and local power systems here.

City of Austin resources

The city has opened three libraries that would normally be closed for the MLK holiday for people who need a warm place to stay. The Terrazas Branch, Ruiz Branch and Little Walnut Branch are open until 6 p.m. The Central Library is closed Monday, but will open an hour early — at 8 a.m. — on Tuesday and Wednesday. All other locations will be available during regular business hours starting Tuesday.

If you need a warm place to stay overnight, the city’s cold weather shelters are open every night through at least Wednesday night. They will also be open during the day on Monday.

Registration for the overnight shelters is from 6 to 8 p.m. each night at One Texas Center on Barton Springs Road. You can use CapMetro services to get there, even if you don’t have the means to pay the fare.

The City of Austin and Travis County have also activated their 24-hour emergency operations center until further notice, allowing crews to monitor the weather, coordinate public safety response and assist with shelter operations.

“We’re preparing for the winter weather by doing a number of things,” Mayor Kirk Watson said. “One: making sure our utilities are ready for severe weather, and in the event of outages we are ready to restore service as soon as possible.”

Find emergency updates from the city here.

What else to know

H-E-B has adjusted hours for some Austin-area stores because of the weather. Locations in Kyle, Lockhart, Luling and San Marcos will close at 8 p.m. on Monday. The Wimberley store will close at 7 p.m.

All Central Texas locations will open at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Local Central Market stores will also close at 10 p.m. Monday and open at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Luz Moreno-Lozano, Audrey McGlinchy, Chelsey Zhu and Greta Díaz González Vázquez contributed to this story.

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