And 1st at 10,
the winter blast blowing into Texas.
This weather is bringing
freezing rain and ice,
and tonight we have team coverage.
Our squad of meteorologists
and reporters are tracking
everything we need to know,
from the state's power grid
to treacherous travel.
But right now we start with
Weather Chief Bill Taylor and Bill.
This is only day one,
day one, Henry and temperatures this story.
We've had some precipitation,
almost a misty.
Drizzle falling this evening in the city,
but the numbers are in our favor.
Just above 32%. Antonio,
but as close as we can get right now
in the city is 33 elsewhere below freezing.
Look at Bandera, Bernie,
hold Lotus all at 3033 Randolph 35 Lackland.
Then you go down Hwy.
90 for 37 to 36 at Hondo.
Still a couple of 40s on the map.
It's all about where these numbers lie now.
I look at visibility as
a proxy for the light.
Drizzle the mist in the air and there's
not very much visibility has improved
in San Antonio and measurable rain
that you pick up on radar is very,
very sparse.
You move up I35 and it picks up a
little bit near Austin as far as some
of the freezing rain and light sleet,
but remember a winter storm watch
for San Antonio West of Del Rio,
a winter storm warning for the
Texas Hill Country where we
still expect significant icing.
In fact,
the worst of this three day
event is still to come Henry
coming up ice accumulation.
Forecast,
I'll show you the newest model guidance.
We'll see you soon. Thanks so much, Bill.
And the other big headline tonight,
the power grid. Many of you are
anxious about this as we near the two
year anniversary of the winter storm.
Kings 5 reporter Matt Houston is live
tonight tracking the grid for us. Matt.
Yeah. And Henry,
would you believe it's just not
cold enough to be concerned tonight?
In fact, you're not cranking the
heat at this moment like you were,
for example, around Christmas.
We can demonstrate that with a live look
at ERCOT supply and demand forecast.
Right now. You'll see plenty of space
between the sort of teal colored demand
line and the purple capacity line.
The wider the gap between the two,
the better off we are.
Barring some disaster then at
the natural gas facility tonight.
We're just not concerned about
blackouts we are.
Instead, worried a bit about
trees like the one above me here.
While Ice gathers on branches like these,
they get a little bit heavier.
They can fall sometimes on power lines.
Power providers in the Hill Country
say that will happen this week.
Trees are are a big deal in terms of outages,
whether it's a winter storm watch
like right now, or even if it's
just windy 30 mile per hour day.
Either way, we're preparing for outages.
We believe that it's not a matter of if,
but when and responding.
That was Tachi Hinojosa,
CEO of the Central TX Electric Co-op.
They serve as parts of Kendall,
Kerr and Gillespie counties
where we are expecting more ice.
Ryan Shoptaw will have more on
the tree angle in just a moment.
In fact, Seatac today sent their
standby crews home to rest up and
prepare to come in overnight.
They'll also bring in more staff to answer
the phones and take outage reports.
Even with year round tree trimming programs,
you know, hosts acknowledged
this problem with icy trees is
simply just tough to avoid.
We are not expecting these problems.
Go in San Antonio.
In fact, CPS Energy says they
should have crews free and available
tomorrow and Wednesday to go to
the northern portions of our area.
Your Fredericksburg,
Bernie's Banderas,
to help out the crews there as
they're cleaning up from what
they expect will be an icy week.
We're live on the northwest side tonight.
I'm Matt Houston,
KENS 5.
Thank you so much, Matt, for that report.
And let's take you to Bernie right now.
Kens 5 reporter Hannah Tita
is live there for us tonight.
So, Hannah, what are you seeing?
Well Henry, we're live near Interstate
10 which goes through a Bernie.
You can see not a lot of people
are traveling behind me right now.
Rain is all drivers are contending with tech.
dot was out earlier today salting this
main corridor and like we heard from Bill,
we are freezing.
It feels really cold here in Bernie,
but with more rain possible overnight,
the tomorrow morning could be the
biggest test of these preparations.
As salt mixture sprayed on city roads
to prevent ice from forming tonight,
a steady drizzle caused dread with
each drop in the temperature.
I think we might get some sleep,
maybe some icing, and that
could be pretty treacherous.
Flashback fun Tiques will be closed
tomorrow as this winter weather
gives owner Bill Howard flashbacks
of the Winter Storm. Two years ago
we had no power for 2 1/2 days and
we were virtually just locked in.
Today, Bernie ISD told parents.
School has been cancelled through.
Wednesday over concerns of dangerous
driving conditions, Howard expects
Main Street will also be a ghost
town will keep the heaters running,
so should keep it fairly warm,
but I'm sure this building,
being 100 years old,
has weathered some pretty.
Pretty long and pretty cold winters.
While Howard braved the cold in
Hill Country, his wife will be
enjoying some heat in Mexico.
I'm going to take my wife to the airport
either tonight or in the morning.
Not sure. Depends on the weather and
what Bill Taylor has to say about it.
Yes, I am. Kind of, sort of, yes.
Well, hopefully her flight is not
impacted by this winter weather,
but those who are traveling by car want to
be careful heading north of San Antonio.
As we've mentioned there
could be some icy spots.
So we'll be out here and Bernie
for the next few days covering
the conditions for you.
And you can also get up to date
information on air reporting
live in Bernie Hannity KENS 5.
Alright,
thanks so much Hannah for that report.