Let’s face it, the past few days in the San Antonio area have been absurd. As much as 8 inches of snowfall has been reported, which is something people in Texas might not even think about at any point in the year.

Even if you are from the north, this has to be unexpected and unprecedented. This is obviously historic for the city, state, and country’s history as Texas isn’t the only place being hit. Oklahoma was as well under winter storm advisories since the beginning of the week.

The wicked weather has already halted important second COVID-19 vaccinations, and have cancelled classes in schools or made them switch to asynchronous learning altogether.

The Weather Channel is projecting that San Antonio will be 2 degrees above the freezing point around 2 pm local time. (34 degrees) The high will be 35 and the low will be 23. The dew point is down at 24 degrees. But there is some promising news in the forecast. Friday will warm up with some sun and the high will be 48 degrees. Saturday, same thing and the high will be 58. Sunday is supposed to be cloudy, but San Antonio is right back up in the 60’s. Starting next Wednesday should we expect to see 70 degree weather again.

But nonetheless, before one could even “look back” at this storm, we must survive and get through the upcoming days as more snow is falling at the time this article was written. The following are some simple tips to survive the cold, and as well as trying to preserve energy during the unexpected outages.

To start, San Antonio Water System, (SAWS) issued a boil water notice city-wide on their Twitter and Instagram pages yesterday at around 4 pm local time. “You should boil water rigorously for two minutes before drinking or using to cook,” the announcement said. Obviously, if you gain electricity to be able to do so, they recommend to. This would be helpful and safer to do so if you do indeed plan on heating food.

Another helpful tip would be to try avoiding water if you do indeed take a shower. Or try not to get the water in your mouth at all.

The City is also warning of price gouging taking place in the area. Price gouging by any business on essential items is illegal, and you are encouraged to report if you do see any gouging occurring.

CPS Energy has also put on their website that “The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has lifted the requirement for controlled outages to reduce energy demand on the statewide power grid. PLEASE CONTINUE TO CONSERVE ENERGY. Our crews are working to restore service for customers that are still without power.”

This all comes after recent controversy of ERCOT’s handling of the situation and the independent power grid in the state suddenly failing. As well as pictures of the CPS Energy headquarters building illuminated brightly at night, while many in the city have been struggling without power for days. Paula Gold-Williams, the President and CEO of CPS Energy, tweeted early Thursday morning that “We are in a place where now the capacity of energy we have safely exceeds customer need.”

CPS still advises to conserve as much energy as possible, as San Antonio is under an advisory for at least the rest of the day. And if you happen to get an outage at this point, to contact CPS Energy directly as they are in the process of restoring power for many areas around the city.

Another warning is to stay off the roads unless you are essential and need to be somewhere. The roads are icy and dangerous up to this point, and you vehicle is in danger of slipping or sliding. Many of the warming centers around town such as the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is to stay open through Wednesday. Below are some links with more direct information from local sources around the city.

https://www.cpsenergy.com/en.html

https://weather.com/weather/today/l/0e23ddb22586163323dc8c95e1ca5a3d43e9d736052ec6a368233a2897f36cad

https://www.sanantonio.gov/