Dallas News is tracking dangerous heat across Texas this week, and the coverage is doing what weather coverage does: it names temperatures, issues warnings, and tells people to stay hydrated. What it does not do is tell a household what to prepare before the advisory drops, while there's still time to act calmly.

That gap is what we're here to fill.

What's actually different about Texas heat season now

ERCOT, the grid operator for most of Texas, has been adding generation capacity since the February 2021 freeze exposed structural weaknesses. That's real progress. But summer demand records keep breaking, and the margin between peak supply and peak demand narrows every year as the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex grows. When a heat dome parks over North Texas for five or more consecutive days — which has happened multiple times in recent summers — the grid stress isn't theoretical. It's a rolling conservation watch or, worse, rotating outages.

The medical risk window is also tighter than most people assume. Heat stroke can develop in adults within 10 to 15 minutes of sustained exertion in high humidity and temperatures above 100°F. For children under four and adults over 65, that window is shorter. For people on diuretics, beta-blockers, or antipsychotics — all common prescriptions — thermoregulation is impaired even at rest. A household with any of those members needs a plan that doesn't depend on the air conditioner staying on.

There's also a cost angle. Electricity prices on the ERCOT spot market can spike to the regulatory cap during peak heat hours, typically 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. If your utility plan passes those prices through, running a window unit during those hours in a blackout scenario costs far more than pre-cooling your home earlier in the day.

What we'd actually do

Map your cooling fallback before you need it. Identify two locations outside your home where your household could spend four to six hours if your power went out on a 105°F afternoon — one nearby (a library, a mall, a neighbor with a generator), one farther away. The City of Dallas and most major Texas counties open cooling centers during declared heat emergencies; look up your county's emergency management page now, not during an event. Put the phone number in your contacts.

Pre-cooling your home costs less than emergency cooling does. If you are on a time-of-use electricity plan, or if your utility issues conservation notices, run your AC harder between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. to drop your home's thermal mass to 72°F or below before peak hours. A well-insulated house holds that temperature for two to three hours without mechanical help. If your insulation is thin — common in older Dallas-area construction — blackout curtains on west-facing windows make a measurable difference.

Check your medications and your neighbors. Heat illness among people on common prescription medications is underreported. If anyone in your household takes medications that affect sweating or circulation, ask their pharmacist this week specifically about heat precautions. Then do the same for an elderly neighbor who lives alone. Texas has no formal welfare-check infrastructure during heat events the way some northern states do for cold snaps; informal networks fill that gap.

Audit your water supply for a 72-hour outage. Most Texas municipal water systems stay pressurized during grid events, but pump stations can lose power in extended outages. FEMA's baseline guidance is one gallon per person per day; in Texas summer heat with physical activity, double that. A family of four needs at least eight gallons stored to get through three days without opening a tap. Filled two-liter bottles in a freezer also double as thermal mass that slows warming if the power cuts.

Know your ERCOT conservation signals. ERCOT posts conservation notices publicly at ercot.com and through its social channels. A "conservation notice" is a request; a "watch" or "emergency" means the grid is actually stressed. Bookmark the page. During a watch, shifting discretionary loads — dishwashers, laundry, EV charging — to off-peak hours reduces risk for the whole system, not just your bill.

The bigger picture

Heat is the deadliest weather phenomenon in Texas by confirmed fatality count, outpacing tornadoes and hurricanes in most years. It kills quietly, without dramatic footage, which is part of why households underestimate it. The goal here isn't to alarm anyone. It's to close the gap between a weather advisory and a household that actually knows what to do in the three hours before things get serious.

Durable households don't wait for the emergency declaration. They run through a short checklist in May, when it's 88°F and manageable, so that August at 108°F is just another Tuesday.