Another cold start to the morning in the Pineywoods, as the mercury this morning has dipped to 16 degrees so far. We also remain under a hard-freeze warning until 9 this morning. It may be up in the day before we get above the freezing mark. We struggled to reach the upper 20s for a high Monday. We've been at or below freezing since 7 Sunday night. An extended period of well below freezing temperatures could cause ruptured water pipes and pose a threat to sensitive vegetation and livestock. These conditions are also potentially hazardous to people and pets who are vulnerable to the cold.

We're forecast to warm to a high of 42 today, and tonight's lows will be in the upper 20s. We have a slight chance of light freezing rain Wednesday morning, but no accumulation’s expected. The 60s return by Thursday.

Thanks to the cold weather, we’re using extra electricity to stay warm, so ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve. There's been power outages due to rolling blackouts, according to Dan Woofin, ERCOT director of system operations. He says conditions appear to be improving at this time, and they do not expect to implement rotating outages at this time. More record cold this morning is putting stress on the electrical grid.

So was the case Monday morning in western Nacogdoches County, as Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative is saying extra power usage during the severe cold weather from an older sub-station resulted in a power outage. Brittany Johnson, A spokeswoman for the Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative said approximately 1,000 meters served by the Bayou Loco Station on FM 225 were without power as of 7 a.m. Monday. By lunch, the problem had been resolved. The upgrade currently going on now is designed to curtail such problems in the future, according to Johnson.