North Texas has been hit with some of the coldest temperatures ever experienced in the area, with windchills hitting negative double-digits earlier today. Late last night, the power grid reached a critical point and rolling power outages were enacted to help save an overworked infrastructure.
At first, those rolling outages were supposed to last between 15 and 45 minutes. It only took until the early morning hours of the work day for that to be revised to “it could be several hours” as the power grid continues to suffer outages from a variety of sources, including frozen wind turbines, coal, natural gas, and even nuclear plants.
With North Texans across the region struggling to have their homes heated, cries from government officials asked for conservation efforts to be undertaken by everyone to help alleviate some of the demand on the grid. Residents were asked to set thermostats down to 68, unplug unused devices, and not run high-energy appliances such as washers, driers, and dishwashers in homes. The Mayor of Dallas requested downtown office buildings to turn off their exterior lights in an effort to minimize non-essential electrical usage.
And yet, up until an hour before puck drop was slated to take place at the American Airlines Center, the Dallas Stars still planned to play a game tonight.
According to Dallas Stars president/CEO Brad Alberts, there was consideration given to not playing tonight against the Predators. AAC general manager Dave Brown said the arena will take measure to reduce power usage in multiple avenues. The game is expected to be played.
— Saad Yousuf (@SaadYousuf126) February 15, 2021
They (rightfully) took a lot of flack on social media for the decision, considering how many of their very own fans were without power throughout the day. It took the Mayor pointing out that the Stars are not an essential function to get the game postponed:
The American Airlines Center is on the critical infrastructure grid (same as the convention center and hospitals). Mayor’s spokesman: “We need those up. I don’t know the status of that grid, but frankly, the Stars game is not critical infrastructure. It’s just not.”
— Matthew DeFranks (@MDeFranks) February 16, 2021
It’s unclear when the game may be made up at this point, and the status of tomorrow’s game against the Predators is unclear. Considering the winter weather apocalypse happening in North Texas isn’t supposed to clear out until later this week, it seems like a safe bet that it could also get postponed as well.
We hope everyone stays safe and warm. If you can spare it, please consider donating to the City’s efforts to house the homeless community at the Convention Center during this weather event to help keep the most vulnerable among us safe.
the shelter helping with this effort, @ourcalling, is taking on some of the financial burden to help. what they need right now is financial support. here’s a link to donate. if you have $10 to spare, we can make a huge dent in this. let’s go. https://t.co/pIbp4uJMJw https://t.co/mWQnt1SEa7
— Jake Kemp (@NotJackKemp) February 13, 2021