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“In order to prevent a total, statewide blackout, which could take several days if not one or two weeks to restore, the system is having to be very surgical on taking people off the system to reduce that demand on that limited supply,” Turner said. “Otherwise, it could be considerably worse and this situation could be prolonged.”

The weather station at Bush Intercontinental Airport recorded an air temperature of 17 degrees Monday morning, the lowest reading since 1989.

Centerpoint said residents without power should not expect service to be restored before Tuesday at the earliest, leaving families to choose between bad options: Hunker down with layers of blankets or traverse icy roads to the homes of friends and relatives with electricity.

Michele Whitebread in Spring Branch said she is not eager to drive several miles to her parents’ home, but plans to do so with her husband and five children Monday afternoon, after losing power at 5 a.m. Staying put and bundling up would have been an option, she said, if not for her youngest daughter, Maggie, who has born just four weeks ago.

“My parents have power and we don’t,” Whitebread said. “The house can’t get too much colder with the newborn.”

A failing fire alarm woke Jared Berry at his northwest Harris County home around 2 a.m. when it lost power. His wife’s humidifier was out, too.

Hours later, after donning thermal underwear, he used a meat thermometer to see how cold his home was. The device stopped at 58 degrees.

“We were able to boil water and make a cup of coffee in our French press,” Berry said.

Running water was not available for Jamie Rangel at his west Houston apartment, along Interstate 10 and near Silbur Road. His power went out around the same time, too.

“It’s just me. I have a lot of bottled water to drink,” Rangel said, expressing a lack of worry.

He plans to subside off of cold sandwiches until the power comes back.

Ryan Sullivan spent his morning huddled in a comforter as the temperature continuously dropped inside his Spring Branch-area home. He wishes he had planned better.

“Honestly — we didn’t prepare well for this. I should have bought some groceries that I could cook without a stovetop,” Sullivan said. “I wasn’t thinking about losing power for the rest of the day.”

As the indoor temperature reached 45 degrees, he contemplated using a novelty burner for s’mores to cook food for his girlfriend and roommate.

Arwen Mallet’s two kids have been going in and out to play in the snow. The joy is waning, she explained.

“I’m trying to discourage them from going outside because it’s too hard to warm them up afterward,” Mallet said.

Her family’s home lost power around 3 a.m. near Memorial City Mall, just north of Interstate 10.