Freezing weather hits Houston area – Houston Public Media

Scott Flannigan/Houston Public Media

Someone jogs in Cypress, Texas, as ice covers trees and rooftops on the morning of Jan. 25, 2026.

Houston-area residents woke up to a cold, rainy, stormy and in some cases icy Sunday – with reports of thunder sleet in some locations – as temperatures plunged toward freezing and a winter storm warning remained in effect.

Freezing conditions were setting in north and west of the city, where there were reports of freezing rain and sleet as well as slick roadways, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Davis. He said there had been “quite a bit of lightning” reported, along with thunder sleet, a rare phenomenon in which a thunderstorm coincides with freezing precipitation.

Rain fell across greater Houston early Sunday morning. Precipitation dissipated later in the day, but temperatures were dipping below freezing in northern parts of the metropolitan area.

Brian Mason, the city of Houston’s emergency management director, said the city was “very, very fortunate” to avoid the ice accumulation seen further north — but, he added, “We’re not done with this weather event.”

“Tonight, it is going to get very, very cold, so any moisture that’s left out there … it is going to refreeze,” Mason said. “When the sun goes down, please make sure you’re off the roads and take the burden off our first responders that will be out in the field.”

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo echoed those sentiments early Sunday afternoon, saying there was less ice on local roadways than had been expected. But calls for service were picking up, she said, as more residents ventured out.

“If you can be home, great. That would be the best thing to do,” Hidalgo said. “If you have to go out, stay off the highways and stay off the bridges. That’s where we’re seeing this ice.”

Hidalgo also said that while the region was in a “good and stable position” in terms of electricity outages, “I don’t want folks to get too comfortable. Things are going to change.”

Power outages

More than 1,600 homes and businesses in the Houston area were without electricity as of about 1 p.m. Sunday, according to CenterPoint Energy’s online outage tracker. The utility company that serves much of the region had reported more than 8,400 customers without power several hours earlier.

Scott Flannigan/Houston Public Media

Ice can be seen on tree branches in Cypress, Texas, on Jan. 25, 2026.

Paul Lock, CenterPoint’s director of local government affairs, said Saturday that crews were stationed at two different sites ready to respond to power outages. Officials with the company warned that freezing rain was the biggest threat to local electricity infrastructure.

“We were concerned about the accumulation of ice on our power lines, the accumulation of ice on trees, that vegetation would fall on contact,” Jesus Soto Jr., CenterPoint’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said during a 9 a.m. news conference. “That did not materialize.”

Later Sunday, Lock said CenterPoint was shifting its focus “from freezing rain to the hard freeze over the next two days.”

“That could have an impact on some of our equipment,” Lock added.

If residents see any downed power lines, Soto said they should avoid contact with them and call 713-207-2222 to report them.

Nathan Brownell, CenterPoint’s vice president of resilience and capital delivery, said late Sunday morning that crews will be assessing the damage in neighborhoods with power outages.

“If it’s a minor damage, that truck could potentially fix that and get the customer back on,” Brownell said. “If it’s a larger damage, like a broken pole, that’s a bigger type of a crew and so they will follow that up. A crew immediately will start rolling there and we’ll begin the restoration process.”

There were several hundred additional outages Sunday in Montgomery County, north of Houston, according to Entergy’s online outage tracker.

Warming centers

Warming centers are open across the Houston region – including in Harris, Fort Bend, Galveston and Montgomery counties – for residents who are without power or need to escape the cold.

According to Houston Mayor John Whitmire, the city’s 12 warming centers sheltered 940 people overnight. The city-operated centers will remain open through midday Tuesday.

City officials reported before the freeze that three of the 12 centers lacked backup power, but Whitmire said Sunday that CenterPoint supplied them with mobile generators.

Hidalgo said the warming centers operated by Harris County were at about 60% capacity as of early Sunday afternoon.

Road conditions

City and county officials reported no weather-related traffic deaths as of early Sunday afternoon. Both the Houston Fire Department and Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office responded to multiple carbon monoxide alarms, but there were no reported fatalities.

City of Houston

Houston Mayor John Whitmire speaks about the impacts of a winter storm on Jan. 25, 2026.

“I want to thank Houstonians for listening,” Whitmire said. “People stayed off the road last night. Churches are having remote services this morning. The preparation is working — but let me emphasize we cannot let our guard down.”

During the 9 a.m. news conference, crews with the city’s public works department were responding to a 12-inch water main break on Chimney Rock Road. Department director Randy Macchi said the situation was “not something that we weren’t prepared for or unable to respond to.”

Local elected officials in Houston and across the region have urged residents to avoid roadways if possible.

The toll lanes on State Highway 288 were closed between downtown Houston and the Harris and Brazoria County line to the south, according to the Texas Department of Transportation’s Houston office. The main lanes remained open.

Harris County Sheriff’s Office via X

A pickup truck is connected to a tow truck on US 290 near its intersection with Telge Road on Jan. 25, 2026.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office reported icy road conditions at several locations in the Cypress and Conroe areas, along with the flyovers at the intersection of Interstate 10 and the Grand Parkway in Katy.

Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said the Woodlands Parkway overpass at Interstate 45 was closed because of icy conditions.

“Many reports of icing beginning on other overpasses and bridges,” Keough wrote in a Facebook post. “Temperatures have dropped a few degrees since day break and we will remain below freezing today ahead of tonight’s significant drop in temperatures. Please stay off the roads if you can.”

TxDOT advised motorists to monitor road conditions at the Houston TranStar website. Statewide road conditions can be monitored at DriveTexas.org.

“Freezing temperatures can quickly make roads unsafe — especially bridges and overpasses,” TxDOT’s Houston office said in a statement Sunday. “Staying home is the safest choice. If you must drive, slow down and use extreme caution.”

Polling locations closed

The winter weather also is impacting the special election runoff in the 18th Congressional District, where former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards and former Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee are vying to complete the term of late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner. Early voting had been scheduled to continue Sunday and Monday for the Jan. 31 election, but the polls are being closed on those days by the Harris County Clerk’s Office.

“The safety of voters, elections workers, and staff must come first,” Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said in a Saturday night statement. “This decision was made in close coordination with state and local emergency management officials.”

Early voting is scheduled to conclude Tuesday, and the Houston area is under an extreme cold warning until noon Tuesday.

Colder temps to come

Davis with the National Weather Service said “dangerous wind chills” in the teens and single digits are expected Sunday night.

Scott Flannigan/Houston Public Media

Ice blankets a garden in Cypress, Texas, on Jan. 25, 2026.

“The precip’s going to come to an end by mid-morning, but the clouds are going to hang around and the temperatures are going to remain pretty cold,” Davis said. “The south and eastern (parts of the area) will only briefly rise above freezing this afternoon, while areas to the north and west will actually remain below freezing all day into tonight. So conditions aren’t really expected to improve much during the day today. We have some very cold temperatures arriving tonight.”

Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen said Saturday night that residents need to be aware of carbon monoxide threats as they attempt to warm their homes during the freezing temperatures. Residents should make sure they have batteries in their smoke detectors and talk to family members about exit routes from their homes in case of an emergency, she said.

“Safety and preparedness is about getting through this event,’ Christensen said. “We are well skilled at this in Harris County. We can’t say enough about our residents and the preparation that we make. That being said, every event is different.”

Houston Public Media’s Sarah Grunau, Thomas Perumean, Dominic Anthony Walsh and Natalie Weber contributed to this report.

Freezing weather hits Houston area – Houston Public Media

Tags: