Two years later, the 2021 blackout still shapes what it means to live in Texas

Two years ago this week, Texans woke up to something many had never seen before: snow. It was not the annual heavy frost or light dusting. It was honest-to-God snow. A thick blanket of it, inches deep, had covered everything while we slept.
And, for millions, the power was out.

These two facts competed for our attention. For my Texas family, and many others, power outages are more common than snow storms. In this case, it seemed, the state power grid had to conserve electricity because of the storm, and we had been cut off as part of those measures. I figured the lights would return by nightfall.

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The power did not come back. We spent that first freezing night bundled together in my kids' room.

The next morning, on the drive to the hotel that the station had found for us, the full scope of the crisis started coming into focus.

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