A massive winter storm hit much of the U.S. Tuesday, dumping heavy snowfall along the East Coast and sending temperatures plunging from 15 to 30 degrees below normal from the Mid-Atlantic region to the upper Midwest. But in addition to causing school closings and disrupting highway traffic, frigid winter weather has far-reaching effects on energy production and distribution—from slowing oil and gas wells and refineries to briefly shutting down a nuclear power plant in the Midwest because of ice.

Here are some examples of how the cold can cause problems.