ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Here in Washington, the federal government is closed, as are most schools, because the first major snowstorm in about three years barreled into the area Sunday night. It arrived in the mid-Atlantic after working its way across the country over the weekend. And as this area digs out, the Southern U.S. is preparing for another winter storm that could paralyze parts of Texas, Arkansas and northern Louisiana. At the same time, Southern California is getting battered with life-threatening and destructive wind gusts, driving wildfires that are spreading fast. That is a lot of extreme weather. So to talk us through what's happening, we're joined by Rachel Osier Lindley from The Texas Newsroom in Dallas and LAist reporter Jacob Margolis. Thank you both for being here.
JACOB MARGOLIS, BYLINE: Thanks so much.
RACHEL OSIER LINDLEY, BYLINE: Yeah - good to be here.
SHAPIRO: Let's start in California, Jacob, with you. Southern California is seeing these very strong winds. As I just said, those are driving wildfires. What's happening where you are?
MARGOLIS: Yeah. What we're experiencing right now is one of the strongest wind events that we've seen in years. It's so strong that the National Weather Service actually called it a particularly dangerous situation. And that's because we're seeing strong wind gusts potentially, in some spots, up to 100 miles per hour, from Santa Barbara all the way down to San Diego, essentially off of coastal Southern California, where tens of millions of people live. Now, strong winds during this time of year are normal. We call them the Santa Ana winds, the Santa Ana wind season - essentially, winds that blow towards the coast. But the big problem is that it is also very, very dry, and the fire risk is very high.
SHAPIRO: So what is the fire situation right now?
MARGOLIS: An absolute nightmare. We have not had rain for 260-plus days here, so everything's very dry. The winds also dry everything out. And when a fire does start up and you have winds this strong, they can actually throw embers a mile-plus ahead of the fire front itself, starting spot fires up all over the place, making it all but impossible for firefighters to contain, especially in mountainous terrain like we have here in Southern California.
SHAPIRO: Well, to turn to Texas, Rachel, the forecast in your part of the country is very different. You're in Dallas, where there's a winter storm warning heading toward north Texas and neighboring states. What's the expectation?
OSIER LINDLEY: Well, it has been pretty cold here since Sunday, around freezing in many parts of the state. And now we're expecting possibly three to six inches of snow and sleet across the northern parts of the state, including Dallas. And that's expected to start late Wednesday, peak on Thursday and continue into Friday. Now, three to six inches may not seem like a big deal if you're listening from some place like Michigan, but winter weather like this only happens a few times a year in Texas, so it can be pretty disruptive to the state's infrastructure.
And while these cold snaps aren't unusual for this time of year, psychologically, when we get these storms now, it is far more stressful for Texans than before. And that's because you may remember back in 2021, we had a winter freeze that overwhelmed the state's power grid. And it left millions of people across Texas without power for days, so many still have vivid memories from that storm, which was ultimately blamed for more than 240 deaths.
SHAPIRO: Yeah. So is Texas more prepared this time?
OSIER LINDLEY: Yes. Well, you know, Texas has made several electric grid changes since 2021. For instance, there are new weatherization requirements for power plants and things like that. But right now ERCOT, which manages the state's electric grid, is asking Texans to conserve power, and that's because they're predicting an increased demand for electricity amid the cold. Still, though, ERCOT is saying that the electrical grid conditions should be normal through this cold snap. And local municipalities - they've also beefed up their own infrastructure since 2021, but, of course, there's still a chance of local outages with this weather.
But one thing that I've really noticed is that Texans are not leaving things to chance with these sorts of situations anymore. Since 2021, a lot of people in the state have bought generators, including myself and many of my neighbors.
SHAPIRO: And California's grid has also struggled to keep up during bad storms in the past. Jacob, are people concerned about how the state's prepared to handle that?
MARGOLIS: Well, you know, we've really responded in a pretty big way to wildfires in regards to the grid. And one of the big things that we have done, an important tool, is that utilities are essentially deenergizing lines throughout the state when you do get these really big wind events because one of the big concerns is these lines, power lines, throughout the state can spark and start wildfires, and we've seen that a number of times. So, you know, that is a major kind of tool in the toolbox that we've been using lately.
SHAPIRO: Any time there are severe weather events, people wonder whether and how it's linked to climate change. What can you tell us about the connection here?
OSIER LINDLEY: Well, there's not a connection to this that I'm aware of. A meteorologist I talked with earlier today at the National Weather Service said these cold snaps aren't unusual for Texas this time of year but did point out that the sheer volume of snow or sleet that we could see this week is abnormally high.
MARGOLIS: And Santa Ana winds - completely normal for this time of year, but the place we see climate impacts are hotter temperatures, which dry out our landscapes, which, of course, set the stage for really gnarly fires.
SHAPIRO: Well, as we are digging out here in Washington, D.C., we are wishing you the best in Southern California and in Texas. Jacob Margolis in Los Angeles and Rachel Osier Lindley in Dallas, thank you both so much for your reporting.
MARGOLIS: Thank you.
OSIER LINDLEY: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
