Winter Storm Uri: Hopkins Reflects One Year Later
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Exactly one year ago, Winter Storm Uri swept Hopkins County. Now, one year later, we remember the events of the snowiest and coldest days the county has ever recorded.
RECORD-SETTING WEATHER
Hopkins County faced record low temperatures and snow as ‘The Big Storm’ passed through between February 13 and February 20.
Meteorological data recorded at the Dallas airport clocked a temperature of -2 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest day in all Texas in 72 years, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
The National Weather Service recorded that 2-6 inches of snow fell on the Hopkins County area during that time, a record not challenged since 1961, according to US Department of Commerce data.
Businesses shuttered and schools, which had just reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, were forced to shutter their doors as roads became undrivable.
CONSEQUENCES
Power systems failed, natural gas prices spiked, and plumbing froze. Due to rolling blackouts, some in Hopkins were left without heat, electricity or water anywhere from hours to a week. Food and other supplies were also scarce at local stores. Up to 80% of Texans were without power at some point during the storm, according to Austin news outlet KXAN.
ERCOT made a $16 billion error in pricing during the week of the winter storm that caused power outages across the state, according to a filing by its market monitor. In Hopkins, residents were without power between two hours and seven days, depending upon their location in the county, and due to demand for heat.
ERCOT caused prices to spike to $9,000 per megawatt hour, according to the Reliant Energy Trade Center at Texas A&M University Reliant Energy Trade Center at Texas A&M University. Overall, this caused $16 billion in additional charges for heat across the state of Texas, ERCOT vice president of commercial operations Kenan Ogelman testified during a Texas Senate committee.
While the Texas legislature reversed many of the charges and the majority of municipalities and individuals were able to gain federal or state breaks for their soaring power bills, locally, the city of Cumby reported that they continue to pay off a $96,000 bill for their power usage during the storm.
Officially, 57 people died in Texas as a result of the winter storm, and mostly of hypothermia, according to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. In an official statement, DHHS acknowledged the number could be higher.
NOW
Although the Texas legislature cleared many of the power overage charges, Texas’s power grid remains unwinterized. ERCOT assured citizens that blackouts on the same scale as 2021 would not happen again, which has so far held true. However, as many as 851 Hopkins residents and 22,000 citizens across North Texas were without power during snowfall on February 3.
POSITIVES
On the upside, many younger residents got to experience the beauty of a snowfall during the winter storm, which they had previously never seen in their lives.
The county commissioners also recognized the tireless and tedious work of the Emergency Management Team, specifically county fire marshal Andy Endsley, environmental inspector Kristy Springfield, and local business owner Joe Bob Burgin.
For the first time in its history, the city of Sulphur Springs owns salting and plowing equipment, allowing maintenance crews to be more prepared in the event of another snowfall event.
By Taylor Nye
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