Preparing for a winter storm comes down to three priorities: keeping your household warm, fed, and safe if you lose power or get stuck. Most of the critical work takes just a few hours, and the earlier you start before the storm hits, the fewer problems you’ll face during it. Here’s what to do, roughly in order of importance.
Stock Water and Food First
Store at least one gallon of water per person per day. FEMA recommends a two-week supply per household member, though a three-day minimum will cover most short-duration storms. Fill clean containers, bathtubs, or large pots as a backup in case pipes freeze or water service is interrupted.
For food, focus on items that don’t need refrigeration or cooking: canned goods (with a manual can opener), peanut butter, crackers, dried fruit, granola bars, and nuts. If you have a gas stove, you’ll have more flexibility, but plan as though you won’t. Keep enough on hand for at least three days, and closer to two weeks if your area is prone to extended outages or road closures.
Protect Your Pipes
Burst pipes are one of the most expensive consequences of a winter storm, and they’re largely preventable. When temperatures stay below freezing for several days, let your indoor faucets drip. You don’t need a steady stream. Just a trickle keeps water moving through the pipes enough to prevent ice from forming a solid blockage.
Open cabinet doors under kitchen and bathroom sinks to let warmer indoor air circulate around exposed pipes. If you have pipes in unheated spaces like garages, crawl spaces, or attics, wrap them with foam insulation sleeves before the storm arrives. Know where your main water shut-off valve is so you can act quickly if a pipe does burst.
Insulate Your Home Before the Cold Hits
Windows are the biggest source of heat loss in most homes. If you have single-pane windows, even a layer of bubble wrap pressed against the glass can improve insulation by 50% or more. On double-pane windows, the improvement is closer to 20%, but still meaningful if you’re trying to hold heat during an outage. Plastic window insulation kits (the kind you shrink with a hair dryer) work well too. One informal test found that combining large and small bubble wrap layers raised temperatures near the window by several degrees compared to bare glass.
Beyond windows, roll up towels along door gaps, close off rooms you don’t need, and hang heavy blankets over doorways to trap heat in a smaller area. If you lose power, pick one room as your warm room, ideally an interior room with few windows, and concentrate everyone and your heat source there.
Heating Safety During Outages
Space heaters cause a disproportionate number of house fires during winter storms. Keep any portable heater at least three feet from curtains, bedding, furniture, and anything else that can burn. Plug them directly into a wall outlet, not an extension cord or power strip, and never leave them running while you sleep.
If you use a portable generator, place it outdoors at least 20 feet from any door, window, or vent. Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, and it kills people every winter storm season. The same rule applies to charcoal grills, camp stoves, and propane heaters designed for outdoor use. None of these belong inside your home or garage, even with the garage door open. Make sure your carbon monoxide detectors have fresh batteries before the storm.
Keep Electronics and Batteries Warm
Your phone may be your only link to weather alerts, emergency contacts, and news during an outage. Charge all devices and portable power banks to 100% before the storm. If your home gets very cold, keep your phone and power banks close to your body or wrapped in insulation. Lithium-ion batteries lose capacity in freezing temperatures, and storing them below zero degrees Celsius can cause internal cracking that permanently degrades performance. A phone at 10% battery in a frigid house won’t last long.
A battery-powered or hand-crank weather radio is worth having as a backup. Cell towers can go down in severe storms, and a NOAA weather radio will keep broadcasting regardless.
Prepare Your Car
If you might need to drive before, during, or after the storm, pack a winter kit for your vehicle. The essentials: a blanket, extra warm clothes, nonperishable snacks like granola bars and dried nuts, a flashlight with extra batteries, a phone charger that works from your car’s power outlet, and a small bag of sand or kitty litter for traction if you get stuck on ice. Road flares or reflective triangles make you visible to other drivers and snowplows if you’re stranded on the shoulder.
Keep your gas tank at least half full. Gas stations lose power too, and a running engine is your heat source if you’re stuck. If you do run the engine for warmth, crack a window slightly and make sure the tailpipe isn’t blocked by snow to prevent carbon monoxide buildup inside the car.
Recognize Hypothermia and Frostbite
Hypothermia sets in when your core body temperature drops below 95°F, which can happen indoors during a prolonged outage. Early signs include shivering, clumsiness, confusion, and slurred speech. People with mild hypothermia often don’t realize how impaired they are because the confusion itself affects their judgment. If shivering stops but the person hasn’t warmed up, that’s a sign they’ve progressed to moderate hypothermia, where heart rate and breathing slow, skin turns bluish, and consciousness fades. This is a medical emergency.
Frostbite targets fingers, toes, ears, and the nose first. The earliest stage, frostnip, shows as a slight color change with numbness and cold feeling. It’s reversible with rewarming. Superficial frostbite makes the skin feel oddly warm, and fluid-filled blisters can appear 12 to 36 hours after rewarming. Deep frostbite is far more serious: large blisters develop, and tissue can turn black and hard as it dies. If you suspect frostbite beyond frostnip, get to warm shelter and avoid rubbing the affected area, which damages the tissue further.
Protect Your Pets
Dogs and cats are more vulnerable to cold than many owners realize. Indoor temperatures should not fall below 45°F for more than four hours for any dog. For small breeds, short-haired breeds, toy breeds, puppies, older dogs, or any sick or injured animal, the threshold is higher: 50°F. If your home drops below 50°F during an outage, provide dry bedding and a solid resting surface so your pet isn’t lying on a cold floor.
If your dog is housed outdoors, clean dry bedding is required below 50°F. Below 35°F, dogs need extra bedding like straw, wood shavings, or blankets, enough to nest into and conserve body heat. Bring outdoor pets inside during a winter storm if at all possible. Short-legged and hairless breeds have the least cold tolerance and should never be left outside in freezing conditions.
Final Prep Checklist
- Water: one gallon per person per day, three-day minimum
- Food: nonperishable items and a manual can opener
- Heat: space heater, extra blankets, or fireplace wood (with working carbon monoxide detectors)
- Light: flashlights, extra batteries, candles with holders
- Communication: fully charged phone, power bank, weather radio
- Pipes: insulation wraps, know your shut-off valve location
- Medications: at least a week’s supply of any prescriptions
- Car kit: blanket, snacks, sand or kitty litter, flares, phone charger
- Cash: small bills, since card readers won’t work during power outages