While the state of Texas overall did not experience widespread blackouts last weekend, the extreme cold still killed at least three unhoused people in Houston sleeping on the streets. The science of how climate change may be making extreme cold events more frequent — even as climate change overall leads to fewer cold days — is complex. (Basically, emerging research shows that changes in atmospheric patterns due to rapid warming in the Arctic make it more likely for Arctic air to “break out” from polar regions and make its way to lower latitudes.) However, the deaths of two unnamed men and Benita Perez, a 41-year old mother of four, illustrate the heightened vulnerability of unhoused people to extreme weather and the impacts of climate change. (Men: Houston Chronicle; Benita Perez: Houston Chronicle; Climate Signals background: Winter storm risk increase, February 2021 polar vortex breakdown)