By Tim McLaughlin BOSTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - U.S. electric grid operators on Saturday stepped up precautions to avoid rotating blackouts as frigid weather hitting half of the country's population stressed their operations.

In more recent winter weather events, ERCOT has reminded Texans that outages are likely localized and caused by things like fallen tree branches, rather than the amount of electricity available in the power grid. As of about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, the power grid was operating under normal conditions, with enough power to meet current demand.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state’s main power grid, has a dashboard that allows residents to track current conditions and usage. The timestamp of each dashboard indicates when the information was last updated,

ERCOT, which operates the Texas power grid, has issued an advisory for "extreme cold weather" in Texas. TEXAS, USA — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has issued an advisory for "extreme cold weather" ahead of the expected winter storm in Texas this weekend.