A deadly storm that plowed through the center of the US over the Christmas holiday weekend cut power to more than 200,000 customers and sent US natural gas production tumbling to the lowest level of the year.
At least 25 people were killed in the Great Plains and the Midwest during the event, which included tornadoes Saturday that left 11 dead in the Dallas suburb of Garland and other areas of Texas.
Cold and strong winds started as early as Wednesday, when falling trees from the storm cut power near Moline, Illinois, according to the Eaton Blackout Tracker.
The next day, high winds and falling trees swung north to cut power to about 122,000 customers in Wisconsin and Michigan.
More falling trees cut power for another 15,000 people Christmas Eve in Buncombe, North Carolina, and Christmas Day, another 30,000 North Carolina customers lost power.
Saturday and Sunday were the worst days for Texas, with tornadoes hitting the Dallas-Fort Worth area, followed by snow, ice and high winds in that area and in West Texas, cutting power for about 67,000 customers, according to Eaton, American Electric Power and Oncor Electric.
"We've definitely had some pretty dramatic weather patterns across our service area," Oncor spokesman Kris Spears said Monday.
After the tornadoes, "a blizzard came into West Texas," with "some flash flooding [Sunday] and some wintry mix just west of Fort Worth" Monday, Spears said.
Such conditions have complicated power service restoration efforts, and about 4,500 customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area unlikely to have service restored soon because tornadoes destroyed so many buildings, Spears said.
Freezing temperatures in the Southwest, West Texas and part of the Midcontinent over the weekend also created challenges for pipelines, producers and processing plants and sent total US dry natural gas production tumbling to the lowest level of the year Sunday.
Other extreme weather in the Midcontinent also led to flooding, which triggered pipeline transportation problems in some areas. Meanwhile, mild weather and extremely low prices pressured gas output lower in the Northeast.
Dry gas production in the Lower-48 states fell to 69 Bcf/d Sunday, the lowest level since early January, which was the last time that a cold snap affected production facilities. Production declines became apparent Saturday and continued through Monday.
Temperatures in Midland, Texas, averaged about 29 degrees over the weekend, a 24-degree drop from the prior seven-day average.
Production declines were seen in the Permian Basin in New Mexico and West Texas and in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico.
Permian New Mexico production fell nearly 300 MMcf/d, while Permian Texas production dropped about 260 MMcf/d. San Juan production fell about 340 MMcf/d.
El Paso Natural Gas had the largest production losses among the pipelines, resulting in difficult operating conditions as supply failed to arrive as heating demand was rising,
The pipeline showed the loss of about 400 MMcf/d of supply from declining production receipts and processing plants.
El Paso called a "critical operating condition" because of excessive system-wide drafting during a period of underperforming receipts.
But Transwestern Pipeline, Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America and Northern Natural Gas also reported transportation problems associated with cold weather.
Texas production totaled 18.6 Bcf/d Saturday and Sunday, down about 0.5 Bcf/d from the high last week of 19.1 Bcf/d, with most of the decline in the Permian.
Southwest region production was down roughly 0.7 Bcf/d from the prior 30-day average.
Cold weather was expected to continue through the end of the year. If production continues to be limited during a period of rising demand, gas prices in some areas may see upward pressure as the year comes to a close.
