DALLAS, Texas — State leaders said Tuesday they feel confident the state's power grid will hold up during this week's anticipated wintry weather.
However, Governor Greg Abbott reminded Texans not to rule out power outages because of downed power lines from falling tree limbs.
Just a quarter-inch of ice can cause tree limbs to snap. Last year's Winter Storm Uri left a lot of trees in bad shape.
On top of ERCOT's grid failures, some of those trees contributed to outages when their branches fell.
ONCOR crews are on standby, ready to work 16-hour shifts if need be to help repair any downed lines.
Even if they didn't impact the grid during Uri, some trees still died out over time due to the number of days temperatures were below freezing.
In North Texas, we spent 139 consecutive hours below freezing between Feb. 13 and 19. That was the 5th longest stretch on record.
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Believe it or not, the record streak was more than twice as long. In December 1983, we had 295 consecutive hours below freezing in Dallas-Fort Worth. It got so cold, for so long, that you could walk across a frozen White Rock Lake.
Amy Langbein Heath, the owner of Texas Tree Surgeons, told WFAA Tuesday that tree trimming and removal businesses in the area are backed up for months due to Uri, removing trees that have been impacted.
"Our removals were up 30% this year due to the freeze from last year," she said.
Langbein Heath told WFAA her office fielded multiple calls ahead of this week's weather from residents wanting their trees trimmed to prevent them from falling on power lines.
"Because everyone is so backed up, it's just impossible to get anything scheduled quickly," Langbein Heath said.
However, Langbein Heath said protecting your trees and keeping them healthy during the storm is easy for a homeowner.
She recommends deep soaking any mature or young trees.
"Give it about two hours with your hose," Langbein Heath said. "Really soak the ground around it, that should protect the roots during the freeze."
If you have Palm Trees, Langbein Heath recommends wrapping them.