Austin Winter Storm 2026: How Bad Are the Power Outages Right Now?

There are hundreds of Central Texans between Austin and College Station without power, according to the MySA.

More than 4,000 Austin Energy customers lost power on Saturday, but that dwindled to less than 50 by the evening. As of Sunday morning, Austin Energy says outages are minimal in the urban area.

Austin Energy officials say they “haven’t seen a significant impact on the system from the winter storm yet.”

Indeed as of press time, Austin Energy’s outage map shows 99.9% of customers with power, and 3 active outages.

Overnight the city was blanketed by "thunder sleet" and even "steam fog," which KXAN's Kristen Currie says occurs when "cold, dry air goes over relatively warm water."

How many people are without power nationwide?

A historic and massive winter storm stretching 2,000 miles from New Mexico and Texas, through the Mid-Atlantic, has knocked out power to more than 800,000 customers nationwide. It has also triggered federal emergency orders for two of the nation's largest grid operators, and raised fears of prolonged outages as freezing rain, dangerous ice accumulation, and bitter cold punish areas mostly unprepared for extreme winter conditions.

At least 20 states, including the District of Columbia, have declared a state of emergency.

What about my fellow Texans?

Per ABC News, Texas leads outages with over 82,000 customers affected, followed by Mississippi with more than 80,000, Louisiana with more than 71,000, Tennessee with more than 24,000, and New Mexico (mostly the lower southeast region) with more than 16,000.“It is rare for a storm to combine this much snow, ice, and bitter cold over such a large area — a widespread travel-halting, winter storm will stall daily life for days,” said AccuWeather Senior Vice President Evan Myers.

The Department of Energy issued back-to-back emergency orders over the weekend, one for oft-beleaguered Texas grid operator ERCOT on Saturday, and another for the Mid-Atlantic's PJM Interconnection on Sunday. The authorization also allows tapping backup generators and overriding environmental limits to keep the energy flowing. More specifically, keeping the lights on at various data centers appears to be the government’s principal goal.

The unusual federal intervention underscores the broader strain on power infrastructure, as electricity prices in the PJM region spiked from under $200 to more than $3,000 per megawatt-hour in just hours on Saturday.

The ERCOT order is in effect until Jan. 27, with PJM’s ending on Jan. 31.

Utility companies across the storm's wide path have mobilized tens of thousands of workers. However, the sheer geographic scope of the system is complicating the mutual aid networks that typically speed up restoration.

Duke Energy has more than 18,000 workers from 27 states and Canada for the Carolinas. Georgia Power has positioned 10,000 personnel, some equipped with studded tires and snow chains for icy back roads. In Southeast Texas, CenterPoint Energy called it "literally an army,” with 3,300 workers and 1,500 trucks from nine states ready to serve Houston metro's 2.9 million customers.

This will be an ongoing issue through early Tuesday for some areas in the country. Forecasts show Houston, for example, will remain below freezing for 48 to 60 hours, from Sunday morning to sometime Tuesday. Washington, D.C., will have its first seven-day stretch below freezing since 1989.

How do I report a power outage in Austin?

Per Austin Energy, you can do it:

• Online
• By texting “OUT” to 287846
• By phone: 512.322.9100