Austin weather: Tips to prepare your home for arctic blast

A cold front is moving into Austin with arctic air driving temperatures below freezing.

Many in Central Texas rushed out to hardware stores on Saturday to prepare their homes.

Cold weather preparations

At Rooster's Ace Hardware in Round Rock on Saturday, business ahead of the big freeze was picking up.

Go-to winter weather items, like faucet covers and pipe insulation were some of the top items.

"What you want to do is protect your pipes, your plants, and your people of course, but you don't want to pay a plumber two to three hundred dollars an hour to do pipes or stuff, you could protect it yourself and get it done," Robert Mobley, assistant manager, Rooster’s Ace Hardware.

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Temperatures will fall below freezing at times this week and Austin residents are taking steps to make sure the cold weather doesn't do damage.

Besides all the faucet socks and insulation for sale, you can fill the cracks with rolled-up towels and set the ceiling fan to spin clockwise.

The measures can keep the warm air in and make your home more efficient.

When that big arctic blast hits Central Texas, it's the little things that count.

"It makes a huge difference for us to sell this stuff and for the customer just to protect themselves," said Mobley. "Saves them money in the long run."

Texas Gas Service also has a financial assistance program to help with the higher bills this winter.

Cold weather home safety

Some people plan to use space heaters during the cold snap.

They can work well, but they also be dangerous if used improperly.

"If you do have a space heating device, make sure that it is one that is intended and safe for indoor use," said Safeena Walji, the public relations manager for Texas Gas Service.

Texas Gas Service warns a home should never be heated with an oven or stove.

"In addition to it being a fire hazard is that if the heat distribution isn’t, it’s like not ventilated properly or if you maybe haven’t gotten around to cleaning it properly, carbon monoxide can build up over time and those appliances are not intended to use for extended period of time," said Walji.

Austin weather forecast

Timeline:

A cold weather advisory is in place from midnight until 9 a.m. on Sunday morning.

A cold front moved through Central Texas on Saturday, and we will really start to feel its impacts overnight.

Winds will bring in the arctic air and temperatures will drop quickly overnight.

The cold temperatures will be obvious when you wake up on Sunday.

Temperatures will be in the low 30s and it will be breezy.

The wind chill is really what will get you. On Sunday morning, wind chills will be in the teens and some of us to the west could even see them fall into the single digits.

The Source: Information in this article comes from the Texas Gas Service, Rooster's Ace Hardware and the FOX 7 weather team.

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