Texas seeing coldest weather in at least three decades

Extreme cold weather is bringing arctic air as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean with more.

About half of Texas' wind power generation capacity has been put on ice amid the state's historic winter storm, according to a report.

WINTER STORMS HIT CENTRAL US, CAUSING FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS, DELAYS

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) told the Austin American Statesman that roughly 12,000 megawatts of Texas' wind generation capacity had been hampered as of Sunday due to frozen wind turbines. However, they also noted that unfrozen wind turbines are spinning at a higher rate than expected, helping to offset the losses.

ERCOT operates Texas' electric grid and manages the deregulated energy market for 75% of the state,

"This is a unique winter storm that's more widespread with lots of moisture in West Texas, where there's a lot of times not a lot of moisture," ERCOT senior director of system operations Dan Woodfin told the outlet. "It's certainly more than what we would typically assume."


It is estimated between 2.5 and 3.5 million people in Texas have been left without power amid the storm's frigid temperatures. An ERCOT spokesperson did not immediately return FOX Business' request for comment.