FOX Weather Correspondent Ian Oliver discusses details of the major winter storm that brought freezing temperatures, heavy snow and significant ice to multiple states on “Special Report.”
As a massive winter storm rages across the U.S., power grid operators are taking extraordinary steps to keep the lights on and prevent rolling blackouts.
The storm, which spans more than 2,000 miles, has caused sharp price volatility in electricity markets and forced some regions to temporarily rely on oil-fired power generation to meet demand, according to Reuters. reported.
PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest regional power grid serving 67 million people in the eastern and mid-Atlantic, saw wholesale electricity prices briefly rise above $3,000 per megawatt hour early Saturday, up from less than $200 earlier in the day, Reuters reported.
In New England, heating oil production has increased to help the region conserve natural gas, the main fuel source, according to Reuters.
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A person walks in the snow in Little Rock, Ark., on Saturday. (Will Newton/Getty Images/Getty Images)
At the center of the tension is the country’s heavy dependence on natural gas supplies, said Didi Caldwell, founder and CEO of location selection firm Global Location Strategies.
Natural gas now fuels roughly 40% of U.S. electricity generation, up from about 12% in 1990, making uninterrupted supply critical during extreme weather events, Caldwell said.
Unlike coal-fired power plants, which traditionally store fuel on site for months, most natural gas plants rely on just-in-time delivery. Any disruption to pipelines or infrastructure could quickly jeopardize energy generation, according to Caldwell.
“If something happens to disrupt the gas supply to the power plants, they have little to no practical backup,” she said.
Winter storms increase the risk. Demand for gas increases as households increase heating, while at the same time demand for electricity increases, much of which is supplied by natural gas.
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A detailed view of flight lists at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, January 24, 2026, in Dallas, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Every region is exposed, but for different reasons,” Caldwell said. “In the Southeast, the lack of storage and limited transportation capacity means natural gas competes with itself during cold spells.”
One of the most vulnerable areas is Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. Zone 5, which runs through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, according to Caldwell.
“Limited storage and pipeline capacity means that during major winter events, atypical for this region, as forecast for this weekend, gas prices and transportation capacity – essentially the reserved volume on the pipeline – will skyrocket,” she said.
The vulnerabilities of this system were exposed during the deadly 2021 Texas winter storm Uri, when frozen gas infrastructure caused widespread power outages. While upgrades followed, the current storm is one of the first major tests of those improvements, Caldwell said.
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Empty bread shelves at a supermarket Friday in Washington, DC (Al Drago/Getty Images/Getty Images)
A similar near-failure occurred in 2022, when gas systems in the southeast and mid-Atlantic were pushed to their limits during an Arctic cold event. According to Caldwell, the grid only held up thanks to emergency measures and small margins.
Caldwell said long-term solutions require modernization of the electric grid, targeted upgrades to gas supply and better coordination between gas and electric systems.
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“Adding more natural gas generation will not solve the risks and could make the risks worse,” she said.
