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How Austin is preparing to keep outages minimal this winter · Austin Signal

0:09
Temperatures are dropping, but the
0:11
National Weather Service is
0:12
forecasting warmer and drier than
0:14
normal conditions for the Austin
0:16
area this winter.
0:17
But high impact storms are still
0:19
possible as the year wraps up
0:21
and the new one kicks off.
0:23
Find out what Austin City officials
0:25
and Austin Energy are doing to keep
0:27
potential winter storm outages to
0:29
a minimum. And yesterday,
0:31
musician Joe Ely passed at the age
0:33
of 78.
0:34
We speak with Jeff McCord, KUT
0:36
and KUTX's former music
0:38
director about the life of
0:40
Texas-born singer and songwriter.
0:43
The Austin Signal is a production
0:44
of KUT News, hosted by
0:46
Miles Bloxson.
0:49
We'll also hear from another KETXer,
0:51
Marnie Castor.
0:52
She gives us her favorite song
0:53
coming out of 2025.
0:56
That's next right here on the Austin
0:57
Signal.
1:08
It's Tuesday, December 16th.
1:09
I'm Myles Bloxson and this is The
1:11
Austin Signal.
1:12
Thanks so much for joining us.
1:14
As the weather is getting colder,
1:16
high impact storms are possible this
1:18
winter. The question is, what is
1:20
the City of Austin doing to prepare
1:22
us for these possible storms?
1:24
In the studio today, Austin City
1:26
Hall reporter Luz Moreno-Lazano
1:28
is here to tell us all about what
1:30
Austin is doing to keep potential
1:32
winter storm averages to a
1:34
minimum. Luz, great to have you
1:35
today. Hey Myles.
1:37
Okay, so the National Weather
1:39
Service is forecasting warmer and
1:41
drier than normal conditions for the
1:42
Austin area this winter, but
1:44
some meteorologists are actually
1:46
saying that that doesn't necessarily
1:48
mean we're in the clear, right?
1:50
That's true.
1:50
Yeah, I think we have historically
1:52
have seen these kinds of weather
1:54
patterns in the winter where it is
1:55
warm and dry in December.
1:57
And we tend to get these winter
1:59
weather storms around January
2:01
and February. And it's at least once
2:04
during that time period.
2:05
And so this is really the kind of
2:07
lead up to how can we be prepared.
2:09
We got a little bit of a taste this
2:10
week.
2:11
But yeah, as you're looking at the
2:13
forecast, you'll see it'll warm up
2:14
before the end of the week is done.
2:16
Yeah, February is always a scary
2:17
month for me because I never know
2:20
what's going to happen.
2:21
So what is the city of Austin doing
2:23
to make sure we are prepared if
2:25
a round of severe cold weather
2:27
does actually hit this winter?
2:29
Yeah, great question.
2:30
I think one of the things that we
2:31
should really talk about and focus
2:32
on is utilities.
2:34
One thing that we've heard a lot
2:36
from residents that gives people
2:37
anxiety is whether or not we're
2:38
going to have power and water when
2:40
the ice hits.
2:42
So the city of Austin has been
2:44
working really hard to do tree
2:45
trimming around
2:47
power lines and things.
2:49
They've also been looking to
2:51
weatherize or basically kind of like
2:53
weatherproof equipment
2:55
as well to make sure that those are
2:57
ready to go.
2:58
They have crews in place in case
3:00
something happens and they can
3:01
respond quickly.
3:03
But the mayor did say like, it is
3:05
inevitable power outages will happen
3:07
and Austin apparently isn't the only
3:09
city that deals with this kind of
3:10
thing. And so they have plans in
3:12
place to make sure that that does
3:14
if that does happen that they can
3:15
response as quickly as possible.
3:16
They're also ensuring that
3:18
there's plans in places
3:20
for for roads to make sure those are
3:22
clear.
3:23
Communication plans are in place.
3:25
You know, all of these things are
3:26
kind of coming into big.
3:28
One big thing as we kind of lead
3:30
into this next few months.
3:32
I know you said it doesn't seem like
3:33
we're the only one, but it does seem
3:35
like it does.
3:37
Isolating for sure
3:38
Yeah, so what happens if
3:39
somebody doesn't have a place that
3:41
they can go to keep warm?
3:42
Yeah, one thing that
3:44
they will do as this kind of starts
3:46
to ramp up, they will open what they
3:48
call warming centers.
3:49
These are like facilities that open
3:50
during the day, libraries,
3:52
recreation centers, other city
3:54
facilities, county facilities spread
3:56
out throughout the city and in the
3:57
county. People can go there during
3:59
the days, stay warm.
4:02
Usually there's a place for people
4:03
to just kind of sit.
4:05
Overnight, depending on
4:07
weather and the threshold of
4:09
how cold it gets, they'll open
4:10
overnight shelters for
4:12
people who need that,
4:14
including options for families who
4:16
might want to be in a hotel,
4:18
for example.
4:19
And some also allow pets as
4:21
long as they're on a leash and
4:22
well-behaved, and so there's options
4:23
for that as well.
4:25
And it's not just on the city.
4:26
What can we do to make sure that
4:28
we are prepared for this type of
4:30
weather?
4:30
We heard a lot about this yesterday.
4:33
Making a preparedness kit was one of
4:35
the things that we heard, you know,
4:37
extra blankets, extra batteries,
4:39
flashlights, extra medications, if
4:41
you're a person that needs that.
4:42
And then, yeah, making sure that
4:44
you're getting to know your
4:45
neighbors. One of the thing that
4:46
we've heard a little about is like
4:47
make sure that your neighbors are,
4:49
we all are all in communication in
4:51
case someone has perishables,
4:53
non-perishables, there's elderly
4:55
folks next to you.
4:56
So yeah, definitely making plans to
4:57
be safe at home.
4:58
One of the things we're also hearing
5:00
about right now is because of all of
5:01
the holiday decorations kind of
5:03
happening, making sure to keep
5:06
those kinds of things away from
5:07
flammable areas.
5:09
And Luz, before I let you go,
5:11
you also reported on former Austin
5:13
Mayor Frank Cooksey, who
5:15
died Monday at the age of 92.
5:17
Can you tell us a little bit about
5:18
him?
5:19
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
5:21
He was a big civil rights activist
5:23
attorney, is what he did.
5:25
But as mayor, he did a lot of
5:27
environmental work.
5:28
So he helped create the
5:29
Comprehensive Watershed Ordinance.
5:31
He helped champion the creation of
5:33
the Edwards Aquifer underground
5:34
water district.
5:35
Oh, wow. Lots of environmental
5:37
works that he did,
5:40
and yeah. And as a civil rights
5:41
attorney, he helped focus on voting
5:43
rights cases.
5:44
So.
5:44
Oh, wow.
5:45
Legacy. Definitely.
5:46
We've been speaking with Luce
5:48
Moreno-Lazano, KUT City Hall
5:49
reporter. Luce, thanks so much for
5:51
talking with us today.
5:52
Thanks for having me, Miles.
6:00
Today Austin and the Texas music
6:02
world are mourning the loss of Joe
6:04
Ely, a storyteller,
6:06
road warrior, and one of the voices
6:08
that helped define the sound of
6:09
Texas and the wider American roots
6:12
movement.
6:13
He died yesterday at the age of 78.
6:15
From the Flatlanders to stages
6:17
around the world, his influence ran
6:19
deep.
6:21
Early morning rain
6:26
With a dollar in mind
6:31
And an aching in my
6:33
heart
6:36
Empty pockets for
6:38
sale
6:40
To help us reflect on Joe Ely's
6:42
life, music, and legacy, I'm
6:44
joined by former KUT and KUTX
6:46
music director of more than 20
6:48
years, Jeff McCord.
6:50
Jeff, it's great to have you here
6:51
with us.
6:53
Yeah, it's great to be here.
6:54
Jeff, can you tell us the type of
6:56
impact that Joe had on
6:58
the Texas music scene and
7:00
around the world?
7:01
To me his impact was just,
7:03
uh, immeasurable.
7:05
It was, um,
7:07
for me and for so many others,
7:09
I think Joe was the bridge between
7:13
Willie Nelson and
7:15
the big boys, you know, he
7:17
made it all, all the
7:19
stuff that's Texas music, he make it
7:21
all make sense because he
7:23
was so musically
7:25
Restless and ambitious
7:27
and eclectic.
7:32
There really has never
7:34
been anyone like him in Texas
7:36
music
7:39
Down on the dry
7:52
I'm bad.
7:56
He started out as the younger
7:58
apprentice of sorts
8:00
to Jimmy Gilmore
8:02
and Bitch Hancock and
8:04
Terry Allen and all these
8:06
loveick singer-songwriters.
8:09
And he wasn't really a songwriter
8:10
to begin with.
8:11
He was just, you know,
8:13
this slightly younger guy that was
8:15
tagging along.
8:16
When they made that Flatlander's
8:18
record, Butch, Jimmy and
8:20
Joe, it was
8:22
an eight-track that
8:24
virtually got...
8:26
Unnoticed and years
8:28
later got reissued on vinyl.
8:31
By that point, they'd all made their
8:32
own reputations, but the
8:34
Flatlanders originally were Jimmy
8:36
DeGrammer's band,
8:38
and he wrote all the songs, he
8:40
sang them all.
8:42
Joe wasn't a songwriter,
8:44
but in the interim,
8:47
he became one.
8:49
But he also found out that he was
8:50
something else, and that was a
8:52
performer and a natural
8:54
bandleader.
8:56
These shows that he put on.
8:58
I mean, you just had the feeling you
9:00
were in the right place at the right
9:01
time, you know?
9:03
These shows that just seemingly
9:05
went on forever.
9:07
Joe would just grin ear to
9:09
ear, and you'd think he'd be
9:11
done. He was just drenched with
9:13
sweat.
9:14
You know, he'd just keep going.
9:16
Please understand me, everything's
9:18
alright, I just need I got, I got a
9:19
lot of sleep last night
9:24
Joe seemed
9:26
unconcerned with success.
9:32
Even said this in interviews, that
9:34
he didn't care if people liked his
9:36
records or not, you know,
9:38
he was making them for him, and,
9:40
uh, you know, when he
9:42
turned in a synthesizer record
9:44
to MCA records, you now,
9:46
they were just like, what is
9:47
this guy doing, but he
9:50
didn t care, he just following
9:52
his muse all the time,
9:54
and that's what made
9:56
him so special to me, I mean,
9:58
and to so many others.
10:02
You realized it was okay
10:04
to like Willie Nelson
10:06
and the Dicks,
10:08
you know, it was okay to, you,
10:10
know, just enjoy everything
10:13
that was coming out of Texas and
10:15
and the fact
10:17
that you know when Bruce Springsteen
10:19
would come to town or the
10:21
Clash and Joey
10:23
Lee would be there on stage with
10:25
them, it was a validation of
10:27
everything great about Texas music,
10:29
you Because you
10:32
they understood and
10:34
it just gave you the sense of pride
10:35
that here is
10:37
this guy that just
10:40
he was one of a kind
10:43
When future generations look back,
10:45
what do you think Joe Ely's lasting
10:46
legacy will be?
10:49
I hope it will become
10:51
more widespread than
10:53
it is now.
10:54
Joe was not that concerned with
10:56
success,
10:59
but rightfully he should have been a
11:00
superstar.
11:02
He certainly was in the state of
11:04
Texas, but I
11:06
would love to see it go beyond that.
11:10
It's a difficult thing to
11:12
translate when someone
11:15
is so musically eclectic.
11:19
There's not an easy way to describe
11:21
their music.
11:23
Joe certainly falls in that
11:25
category.
11:29
He's as great as anyone ever
11:31
was.
11:33
That was former music director of
11:35
KUT and KUTX for over 20
11:37
years, Jeff McCord on the
11:38
life of Joe Ely.
11:40
Thank you so much, Jeff.
11:46
We've got more coming up for you on
11:48
the Austin Signal.
11:49
Stay with us.
11:53
You're listening to Austin Signal.
11:56
My name is Marnie Castor and
11:58
I am the Saturday morning
12:00
host from 7 a.m.
12:02
To 10 a.
12:03
M. On KUTX.
12:05
And one of my favorite songs out
12:07
of Austin this year is
12:09
Back Home Feeling by
12:11
Paige Plaisance.
12:12
Pulling into town
12:14
and the time slows down
12:18
no one's in a hurry
12:20
yeah we don't have to hurry
12:23
it's good to be back
12:26
as a matter of fact
12:28
i forgot all my worries
12:31
Yeah, we don't
12:33
and it's a song I
12:35
think about a lot or I think
12:37
more about the concept of coming
12:39
home or can you come home
12:41
and what it feels like to
12:43
go back to a place that was
12:45
one's home.
12:47
Something about my
12:49
mama's
13:14
She grew up on the Mississippi
13:16
and Tennessee
13:17
and is now
13:20
stationed in
13:22
Austin, Texas.
13:24
And there's just something about it
13:26
that I, it captures my heart
13:28
in terms of just
13:30
a nostalgic feeling, I
13:32
believe, or just that like trying to
13:34
sing about what she
13:36
loves about her hometown.
13:39
I'm always changin',
13:42
yeah we're always changi-
13:46
Something about my
13:48
mama's opium
13:51
The first impression when I heard
13:52
that song was like, oh, that speaks
13:54
to my heart.
13:55
It was just a song that, you know,
13:58
just kind of hit me right in
14:00
the chest.
14:02
My name is Marnie Castor,
14:04
I'm the Saturday Morning Host at
14:06
KUTX, and you can find all
14:08
of our favorite songs from 2025
14:11
at kutx.org.
14:13
This is Austin Signal.
14:30
If you live in Austin long enough,
14:31
you see a lot of Violet Crown themed
14:33
things around town.
14:35
But what is Violet crown?
14:37
Well, someone asked about this for
14:39
ATXplained.
14:40
KUT's Juan Diego Garcia went
14:42
to find out.
14:44
Violet crowns are all over
14:46
Austin.
14:47
The Violet Crown coffee shop.
14:48
There's a church named after the
14:50
Violett Crown. There's the
14:51
shopping center.
14:52
Jenna Guzman noticed them while
14:54
biking around North Austin, but
14:56
if you go pretty much anywhere in
14:58
town, you'll see them.
14:59
There's also a Violet Crown tattoo
15:01
shop, the Violet crown trail,
15:03
the violet crown movie theater.
15:05
Jenna wanted to know.
15:06
What is the significance and the
15:08
origin of the violet crown
15:10
motif throughout Austin?
15:11
It didn't take much to figure out it
15:13
was one of Austin's many nicknames,
15:15
the City of the Violet Crown.
15:18
But unlike other nicknams, there
15:20
didn't seem to be an obvious reason
15:22
for it.
15:22
The capital city just means the
15:24
state capital is here in Austin.
15:26
Live music capital of the world is
15:28
pretty self-explanatory.
15:30
The earliest reference I could find
15:32
to a violet crown was from the
15:33
1890s.
15:35
Writers like O.
15:35
Henry and William Cowper Brand
15:37
described Austin's sky as
15:39
a violet Crown.
15:41
They were talking about the pretty
15:42
purple hue you can sometimes see
15:44
at sunset.
15:47
To find out what causes Austin's
15:49
violet crown, I spoke to KXAN's
15:51
former chief meteorologist, David
15:53
Yeomans.
15:54
He said the unique purple sky we get
15:56
at sunset has to do with particles
15:58
in the atmosphere that act as
16:00
a kind of filter for light waves.
16:02
It's the same reason the sky is
16:04
blue. It has to with the amount of
16:06
atmosphere the light has to pass
16:07
through, and what the light hits
16:09
before it reaches our eyes.
16:12
You think of the earth
16:14
as a round sphere covered by
16:16
this thin layer of atmosphere.
16:19
Sunlight coming in to hit
16:21
the earth's surface and to hit our
16:22
atmosphere is actually white.
16:24
It contains every color on the
16:26
spectrum.
16:26
The light from the sun goes through
16:28
a kind of filtering process as
16:30
it passes through the atmosphere.
16:32
The light particles bounce off all
16:33
kinds of microscopic stuff on its
16:35
journey to our eyeballs.
16:36
So as it does that, the little
16:38
particles that are naturally
16:39
occurring in the atmosphere, gasses,
16:41
smoke, dust, pollution,
16:43
those are scattering most readily
16:45
blue light, which is why when the
16:47
sun is right overhead, the
16:49
sky is blue.
16:50
As the sun dips low on the horizon
16:52
at sunset, the light now has to
16:54
pass through much more atmosphere to
16:56
get to our eyes.
16:57
That bends the light further, making
16:59
it interact differently with the
17:01
particles in the atmosphere.
17:02
When it does so, it not only
17:03
scatters the blue light, but it
17:05
scatters some of the longer
17:06
wavelengths of light, the reds,
17:08
oranges, yellows that we
17:10
think of as a beautiful sunset.
17:13
So far, none of this is unique
17:15
to Austin.
17:16
Anywhere you are in the world, the
17:18
color of the sky at sunset has to
17:20
do with the amount of atmosphere it
17:21
has to pass through and the stuff in
17:24
the atmosphere.
17:25
But Austin was really into
17:27
this sunset.
17:28
In the 1890s, there were lots
17:30
of references to the Violet Crown,
17:32
but that seems to have faded.
17:34
Susan Bernison has lived in the
17:36
Crestview neighborhood in Austin
17:38
since 1985.
17:40
She started collecting stories from
17:41
the in the early 2000s.
17:43
Later sharing what she collected on
17:45
her website, Voices of
17:47
the Violet Crown.
17:48
I actually made it all the way back
17:50
to 1888,
17:53
there's a reference in the
17:54
Statesman.
17:56
It was around this time that writers
17:58
in Austin started throwing the
17:59
Violet Crown around in their stories
18:01
set in the city.
18:02
Most folks credit O.
18:04
Henry for christening Austin as the
18:06
City of the Violett Crown in his
18:08
work Tick-Tock the French Detective
18:10
in 1894.
18:12
The occasion is the entree
18:13
into society of one of
18:15
the fairest buds in the city of
18:17
the violet crown.
18:19
He might have taken inspiration from
18:20
another Austin-based writer at the
18:22
time.
18:23
William Cowper Brann wrote about the
18:24
Violet Crown in 1891.
18:27
An Edison dollar with its lion
18:28
legend more beautiful in his eyes
18:30
than even Austin's Violet crown.
18:33
Starting in 1920, the first ever
18:35
Violet-Crown festival added another
18:37
layer to the nickname's lore.
18:39
There was a group called the Order
18:40
of the Violet Crown that was kind of
18:42
a civic group, and they started this
18:44
big thing with, they had a parade,
18:46
they had coronation of queen.
18:48
I'm not exactly sure what it grew
18:50
out of, but it was really popular
18:52
in the 20s.
18:53
A few years later, in 1925,
18:55
there was a project in Austin to
18:57
build the ideal home for the time.
18:59
The house was called...you
19:01
guessed it...the Violet Crown
19:03
Home.
19:04
25 was the first time I saw that
19:06
kind of in a real estate mode,
19:08
you know, where you were trying to
19:09
promote houses that had a view of
19:11
the Violet Crown Hills.
19:12
This would continue in real estate
19:14
marketing all throughout the early
19:16
20th century, but few had
19:18
the impact Dr. Joe Koenig
19:19
and Clarence McCullough had when
19:21
they started selling land in what
19:23
used to be North Austin in the 40s.
19:25
They called their subdivision Violet
19:27
Crown Heights.
19:31
Right alongside the subdivision,
19:33
the pair built a shopping center in
19:34
1951.
19:36
They called it the Violet Crown
19:37
Shopping Center, which had a handful
19:39
of Violet crown-themed businesses.
19:41
You might even recognize it as the
19:43
Emporium from Dazed and Confused.
19:45
Hey man, you sure I'm okay in here?
19:47
Oh yeah, man, you'll be okay.
19:48
Look, if anyone starts messing with
19:50
you, just play it cool.
19:52
But despite its prevalence here,
19:54
Austin wasn't the first violet crown
19:55
city in the world.
19:59
Athens, Greece beat us to the
20:01
nickname by a couple thousand years.
20:03
The earliest reference to their
20:04
violet crown dates back to 400
20:06
BC.
20:08
And there's something else we have
20:09
in common with Athens that might
20:10
explain the coincidence.
20:12
Juniper trees.
20:14
Both cities have these trees that
20:15
produce everyone's favorite
20:17
light-scattering particle, what
20:19
we call cedar pollen.
20:20
Here's David Yeomans again.
20:22
Most of the stuff in the atmosphere
20:23
that's naturally occurring or from
20:25
pollution is like two and a half
20:27
microns, maybe up to ten
20:29
microns in size.
20:30
A micron is a millionth of
20:32
a meter.
20:33
Now cedar pollen is
20:35
many times bigger than that.
20:36
It's 30 or 40 microns instead
20:38
of five or 10.
20:39
In other words, cedar pollen
20:41
particles are much bigger than
20:43
most of what's in the atmosphere,
20:45
so it scatters different wavelengths
20:46
of light.
20:47
David believes this might explain
20:49
why Austin and Athens became
20:51
the only two violet-crowned cities
20:53
in the world.
20:53
They too have this enemy
20:55
allergen floating around,
20:57
and that could explain why we both
20:59
have the similar atmospheric effect,
21:01
the violet crown.
21:02
David also has a theory about why
21:04
the name went out of style.
21:06
The Violet Crowns nickname's
21:07
popularity took off in the 1880s,
21:10
around the time early environmental
21:11
movements were rising in response to
21:13
the Industrial Revolution.
21:15
The industrial revolution changed
21:17
our atmosphere drastically when you
21:19
look from now back
21:20
until that point.
21:21
Pollution isn't the only thing that
21:23
affects the colors of the sky.
21:25
Natural stuff like wildfires and our
21:27
yearly encounter with Saharan dust
21:29
can also color the sunset.
21:31
But there's no doubt we've had an
21:33
impact on the colors we see
21:35
at sunset.
21:36
Maybe those contributions are
21:37
starting to overpower the Violet
21:39
Crown effect.
21:40
Maybe it was even more prominent.
21:41
Maybe that was the prominent feature
21:43
in our sky.
21:44
And how could it not be the biggest
21:46
deal in town?
21:47
In the 1880s, Austin had a
21:50
university, the state capitol,
21:52
and that's about it.
21:54
Our city has since grown and adopted
21:57
a few other nicknames along the way.
21:59
But before the tech industry turned
22:00
us into Silicon Hills,
22:03
before the Austin Chamber of
22:04
Commerce labeled us the live music
22:06
capital of the world, and before we
22:08
were reminded to keep Austin weird
22:10
all the time, We had our
22:12
awesome Violet Crown Sunset.
22:19
I'm Juan Garcia, in the City
22:21
of the Violet Crown.
22:28
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
22:30
director.
22:30
Kristin Cabrera is our managing
22:32
producer. Thanks for doing all that
22:34
you do.
22:35
I'm Miles Bloxton and for my buddy,
22:37
Jerry Quijano.
22:38
Austin Signal is back tomorrow.
22:40
We'll talk to you then.