Austin, TX
6 things to know about Texas weather and the grid this August
Check out some of Community Impact’s recent coverage of energy and the environment below.
Low wind, high demand could trigger Texas power grid emergency in August
High temperatures, rapid population growth, and an influx of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence companies will continue to squeeze Texas’ power grid, energy officials reported in June.
- There is a 12% chance of rotating power outages on August nights with little wind, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
- During the summer, the strain on the power grid is typically highest from 8-9 p.m., when more people are using electricity and less solar power is available.
- If wind power production is also low, ERCOT may ask Texans to reduce their energy use. The grid operator called for energy conservation 11 times last summer.
What to know about Texas’ power grid ahead of another hot summer
Energy leaders face continued skepticism from Texans in the three-plus years after the deadly power outages during Winter Storm Uri, the dayslong freeze in February 2021. Community Impact sat down with ERCOT leaders in May to discuss how the grid has evolved to meet the needs of Texas’ rapidly growing population and more.
- ERCOT relies partially on solar power to meet high demand during the summer, resulting in a “rapidly declining energy source” as the sun sets, CEO Pablo Vegas said.
- Power plants and transmission facilities across the state have been upgraded to ensure they can withstand extreme temperatures, said Venkat Tirupati, ERCOT’s vice president of DevOps and Grid Transformation. ERCOT did not confirm how many plants had been upgraded but said officials have inspected 2,117 “weatherized” facilities since December 2021.
Report: Texas summers will keep getting hotter, drier
Texans can expect more 100-degree days and longer wildfire seasons in the coming years, according to a recent report from the state climatologist at Texas A&M University.
- 2023 was Texas’ hottest year on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By 2036, the year Texas turns 200, triple-digit days will likely be four times more common than they were in the 1970s and ‘80s.
- Rising temperatures and varying rainfall can cause drier conditions, leading to an increased risk of wildfires. With higher temperatures occurring earlier in the year, researchers expect the spring and summer wildfire seasons will last longer.
Texas’ first statewide flood plan finds over 5 million people live, work in flood-prone areas
Over 5 million Texans live or work in areas vulnerable to flooding, according to a draft of the state’s first flood plan.
State lawmakers tasked the Texas Water Development Board with creating the plan in 2019, in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The 267-page draft, published in early May, recommends over $54.5 billion in funding to reduce flood risks.
- Nearly 1.3 million homes and over 12 million acres of agricultural land are in flood-prone areas, the plan estimates. Each of Texas’ 254 counties has experienced at least one federally declared flood disaster.
- The plan asked the Texas Legislature to expand early warning systems for floods; create minimum building and infrastructure standards to reduce fatalities and property damage; improve low-water crossing safety; and enhance dam and levee safety programs.
‘Profits over people’: Lawmakers, residents demand change from CenterPoint after Hurricane Beryl
CenterPoint Energy faced another day of reckoning over its response to Hurricane Beryl on July 31. Around two dozen Texas House members grilled CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells on how the utility prepared for the storm, what changes it was making and why power restoration took so long.
- “We keep hearing the same thing: we’ll do better, we’ll do better,” Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, told Wells. “It’s an excuse. That’s not enough. People want to know that this will not happen again and that we will make changes.”
- CenterPoint has proposed raising customers’ electricity bills by 2% for the next 15 years to cover the nearly $1.8 billion in recovery costs associated with the May derecho and Hurricane Beryl.
Gov. Abbott orders CenterPoint to speed up action plan for future storms
CenterPoint Energy will speed up its plans to trim trees, replace utility poles and increase communication with its customers ahead of future storms in Southeast Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Aug. 1. Abbott said he met with CenterPoint executives for over two hours Aug. 1 and ordered them to complete the bulk of their proposal by the end of the month.
- CenterPoint will clear tree branches and other vegetation from 2,000 miles of “higher risk” power lines by Aug. 31, according to the proposal. The company originally planned to complete this project by the end of the year.
- About 1,000 utility poles will be replaced by the end of August, which was also originally scheduled for the end of the year.
- Abbott also directed CenterPoint to improve its communication with Houston-area residents after Hurricane Beryl. The utility has held five community listening sessions to get customer feedback since July 17 and will hold large open houses in each of the counties it serves before Sept. 30.
Austin, TX
Lawsuit: Brianna Aguilera’s parents allege underage alcohol service at Austin tailgate contributed to daughter’s death
The parents of Brianna Aguilera have filed a lawsuit against two organizations, alleging that they served alcohol to their underage daughter which contributed to her death in Austin.
Before Aguilera fell to her death from the Rio 21 Apartments in West Campus, the lawsuit states that she attended a tailgate at the Austin Blacks Rugby Club’s facility, organized by the UT Latin Economics and Business Association.
Both the Austin Blacks Rugby Club and the UT Latin Economics and Business Association were listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
>> What we know about Texas A&M student Brianna Aguilera’s death in Austin
Even though the lawsuit states Aguilera was “noticeably intoxicated” at the tailgate, her parents argue that the defendants continued to serve her alcohol.
According to court documents, Aguilera allegedly began stumbling at the tailgate and needed help standing at times. At some point, the lawsuit said she fell into the woods and lost her phone.
After leaving the tailgate at approximately 10 p.m., court documents state Aguilera died around two hours later.
The lawsuit also accuses the defendants of negligence and gross negligence for serving alcohol to Aguilera despite her age and allegedly overserving her.
In the suit, Aguilera’s parents demanded a trial by jury and sought at least $1 million plus interest, costs and punitive damages.
Aguilera’s parents also seek damages for wrongful death, citing the defendants’ alleged misconduct.
Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who’s representing the Aguilera family, commented on the lawsuit in a Tuesday news conference.
Watch the full news conference below:
“Brianna was obviously overserved,” Buzbee said. “Even the police have concluded that she was overserved at that tailgate. She was not 21.”
Buzbee also stated that the Austin Police Department has allegedly told multiple witnesses not to talk with him and Aguilera’s parents.
“They told the three, the three individuals that were in that apartment that night when this young girl died. They told them, do not speak to Brianna’s mother or her lawyers,” Buzbee said.
He said that the lawsuit could provide a way for the witnesses to eventually come forward with information.
“By filing this lawsuit, not only will we hold accountable an entity or entities that were involved in overserving Brianna and other minors, but we will also be able to subpoena individuals and documents and video and data so we can continue our investigation,” Buzbee said.
KSAT’s sister station, KPRC, has reached out to both the Austin Blacks Rugby Club and the UT Latin Economics and Business Association for comment on the lawsuit. This story will be updated once the organizations provide a statement.
More coverage of this story on KSAT:
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.
Austin, TX
Cedar pollen eases, but record heat builds across Central Texas
Although record-breaking heat and spring-like warmth dominated the first few days of the new year, cooler — but still warmer than normal —temperatures settled in to start the first work week of 2026.
The heat will ramp up yet again Tuesday and Wednesday, with temperatures about 20 degrees above the normal early-January high of 62 degrees.
Expect a blanket of low stratus clouds and some patchy dense fog Tuesday morning, but skies should begin clearing around lunchtime.
“In the meantime, a surface trough (of low atmospheric pressure)/dry line will push from the southern Edwards Plateau into the I-35 corridor, bringing temperatures into the lower to mid-80s,” meteorologists with the National Weather Service wrote in a forecast discussion Monday. “It is going to be very warm for this time of year, and some daily high temperature records could be broken.”
Those temperatures could rival record highs at both Austin climate observation sites, Camp Mabry and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, where the standing record is 84 degrees, set in 1989.
Behind the dry line Tuesday, drier air will move into Central Texas, leading to a slightly cooler start Wednesday under mostly to partly cloudy skies.
Morning temperatures will dip into the 50s around sunrise before climbing into the upper 70s to mid-80s by the afternoon. Those highs would surpass the record of 80 degrees set in 2008 at Camp Mabry.
Temperatures the rest of the week will remain above normal with mostly cloudy mornings but sunny afternoons.
A cold front is forecast to move across the region later in the week with a slight rain chance Thursday and Friday, but most of the rain will fall north and east of Austin. However, cooler and more seasonable weather is expected this weekend.
This past weekend, Austin experienced the highest cedar pollen counts so far this season with a count of 3,200 grains per cubic meter Saturday and a peak of 4,000 grains per cubic meter on Sunday. However, the count dropped to just over 1,000 grams per cubic meter on Monday. Humidity has been on the rise in the past few days, and winds have been much lighter. Those factors have helped “settle” the cedar pollen for the time being.
Luckily, the winds have turned southerly and are much lighter, so the pollen has settled a bit. A small chance of rain on Thursday and Friday should also help dampen cedar pollen before it becomes airborne. However, above-normal temperatures will allow tree pollen cones to continue opening, setting the stage for another pollen surge when the next breezy cold front arrives.
Austin, TX
Venezuelan oil reboot not expected to spur windfall in Texas
Texas reacts to Venezuelan leader being taken into custody
With former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of power, President Trump said he wants to reboot the oil industry in Venezuela. That idea has raised questions about whether it could cause a price spike at the gas pump and a downturn in the Texas oil patch region.
AUSTIN, Texas – With former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of power, President Trump said he wants to reboot the oil industry in Venezuela.
That idea has raised questions about whether it could cause a price spike at the gas pump and a downturn in the Texas oil patch region.
Now, a spike at the pump and a production slump in the Texas oil patch may not happen this year, but with oil prices down, a budget crunch for state lawmakers may be waiting when they return to Austin in 2027.
What they’re saying:
The situation in Venezuela is creating a lot of political uncertainty, but a Texas energy expert said he is not expecting that uncertainty to cause an oil patch crash or a gas pump pike in 2026.
Prices at the pump are low and despite some recent big swings, up and down, analysts say 2026 could see the lowest prices since the pandemic. That prediction has people like Dale Owens cautiously optimistic.
“Things change so drastically nowadays. I mean, look what’s happening with the government, so anything can affect the price. But right now I’m really happy that it’s stable,” said Owens.
There are big reasons for that local gas price stabilization, and it predates the leadership change in Venezuela, according to Ed Hirs, an Energy Fellow at the University of Houston.
“The first is that the president has asked MBS (Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) and OPEC nations to continue pumping a pace. Number one. Number two, this helps hamstring the Russian economy and its war effort. And that’s also one of the goals of not only the European Union, but of the Trump administration. And number three, we’ve got the midterm elections coming up,” said Hirs.
The price of a barrel of oil is expected to increase slightly because of the uncertainty regarding Venezuela. Texas crude oil production, according to an update released Monday, was stable in December, but state data also showed drilling permits for 2025 were at 369 and that’s down from 459 in 2024.
“When President Trump took office, oil was about $80 a barrel, today it’s under $60 a barrel. We are the high-cost producers in the global commodity oil market, and the cost of drilling these wells has gone up by between 5% and 12%, primarily because of Trump’s steel tariffs. Not only does the imported steel now cost a lot more, but domestic producers raise their So the producers in West Texas and across the Permian Basin are getting squeezed by much lower revenues, $20 a barrel less and much higher cost. It’s not a good capital investment for Wall Street,” said Hirs.
Dig deeper:
The oil industry remains a big part of the Texas economy and the state budget. State lawmakers will return to Austin in 2027 to crunch numbers for a new two-year budget.
“I think they need to be looking at the budget. So the state comptroller needs to be running the numbers now based on lower oil revenues, not only for state lands, for example, for the universities, but for the state tax receipts. And that applies to the counties and cities that rely on these revenues to keep their budgets balanced. It’s going to be lower for longer,” said Hirs.
There are also doubts about whether the Texas refineries will get a financial windfall if the Trump Administration is able to reboot the oil industry in Venezuela. There are about six refineries in Texas and Louisiana that can process the heavy crude that is located in Venezuela.
“Well, it might help keep them open. But Lyondell just closed down a 100-plus-year-old heavy crude refinery on the Houston Ship Channel because it just doesn’t make any sense to reinvest in it. And it was going to require $750, $800 million of new capital investment just to keep the plant operating at par,” said Hirs.
What’s next:
Stocks for several oil companies did increase on Monday. Chevron, at one point, had a 10% stock price surge, mainly because Chevron is the only U.S. company operating in Venezuela. Other energy-related companies also saw an increase, like Exxon, as well as industry suppliers like Baker-Hughes and Halliburton.
The action on Wall Street came after President Trump said he wants energy producers to pay for the oil production rebuild. Hirs described the administration’s plans as being “naive.”
Past attempts to rebuild another country’s oil infrastructure seem to back up the doubts raised by Hirs. In 1989, after the Soviet Union collapsed, companies like Exxon went in to rebuild — only to get kicked out later by the Russians. Hirs also noted the rebuilding effort in Iraq, started by President George W. Bush, hasn’t returned production there to pre-war levels. And it’s the same story for Libya, which was done under President Obama.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin’s Rudy Koski and previous coverage
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