What makes a winter storm different?
You'll usually see it coming, and that's the one advantage winter gives you.
What follows is the hard part. An extended power outage in winter is measured in days, not hours. And cold compounds. Every hour without heat makes the house harder to warm back up.
There are really two scenarios, and they need different things. Stuck at home with no power. Or stuck on the road in a whiteout.
What should a winter storm emergency kit include?
A winter power outage kit needs a few things a general emergency kit doesn't.
- Warmth. Sleeping bags, emergency blankets, hand warmers.
- Multiple light sources. Darkness arrives by five in January.
- Food that needs no cooking. Your stove may be out too.
- Water stored in advance. Well pumps stop without power.
- A weatherband radio for alerts when cell service drops.
- First aid, since a clinic visit may not be possible.
Which winter kit fits your household?
- StayLit Power Outage Kit. Light, matches, and a lantern in one pouch. Deluxe and Premium add a weatherband radio, and the Premium's hand-crank model needs no batteries. The smallest version of everything in one place. The Deluxe and Premium include candles for ambient light. Use the flashlights and lantern around children, pets, and bedding, and never leave a candle burning unattended or overnight. A multi-day outage is exactly when candles get forgotten.
- SureStep. Our lightest 72-hour kit at 9 pounds. Includes 25-year shelf-life meals and a portable stove, which matters when your range is out. Use the stove outdoors, on a porch, or in an open doorway. Never in a closed room, and never as a source of heat. See the carbon monoxide section below.
- RapidShield. Three days of food and water, 53-piece first aid, blankets and ponchos. Around 14 pounds.
- Guardian Go Bag. Three days of food and water, 118-piece first aid, sleeping bags, and hand warmers. Around 15 pounds. The warmest option, and the best fit for a long winter outage.
- RoadReady Car Kit. For the trunk. Jumper cables, warning triangle, first aid, and light.
Most households want two. A 72-hour kit for the house, and a RoadReady for each vehicle.
How do you stay warm without power?
Pick one room and close the rest. Preferably a room with the fewest exterior walls.
Hang blankets over the windows. Everyone sleeps in that room, pets included. Body heat in a small space does more than people expect.
Wear a hat indoors. Eat and drink regularly, since your body needs fuel to make heat.
And open your faucets to a slow drip. Frozen pipes turn a cold weekend into a repair bill.
The winter risk worth being blunt about
Carbon monoxide.
Every year families die trying to stay warm during outages. Generators run in garages. Charcoal grills come inside. Gas ovens get left open with the door down.
Carbon monoxide has no smell. Early symptoms look like flu without a fever. Headache, dizziness, nausea, confusion.
Run generators outside only, well away from the house, never near a window or vent. Never bring a grill or camp stove indoors. Never heat a home with a cooking appliance. Candles are the other one. They are not a carbon monoxide risk, they are a fire risk, and a multi-day outage is when a forgotten candle finds the curtains.
Keep a battery-operated carbon monoxide detector. It matters most exactly when the power is out and your wired one isn't working.
What should I keep in my car in winter?
- A lot of winter trouble happens on the road. A RoadReady kit covers the vehicle. These cover you.
- A blanket and extra hat and gloves, in the car from November.
- A charged power bank.
- Water and a few snacks.
- Ice scraper and snow brush.
- Sand, non-clumping cat litter, or a traction mat under a spinning tire. Clumping litter turns slick once it gets wet.
- A full tank, or at least half. Fuel is heat if you end up sitting for hours, and a fuller tank leaves less room for the condensation that can freeze in a fuel line.
If you do slide off the road, stay with the vehicle. It's shelter, and it's far easier to find than you are on foot. Before you run the engine for heat, get out and clear snow away from the exhaust pipe, then run it about ten minutes an hour with a downwind window cracked an inch. A blocked tailpipe fills the cabin with carbon monoxide, and this is how people die in cars during snowstorms.
What should I add to a winter emergency kit myself?
- A week of prescriptions, since pharmacies close in bad weather.
- Backup power for any medical device.
- A battery carbon monoxide detector with fresh batteries.
- Water filled before the storm, in jugs or the bathtub.
- A shovel and ice melt, where you can reach them.
When should you check your winter kit?
Every fall, before the first storm. Same weekend you'd change your smoke detector batteries. An emergency home kit for winter is only useful if the batteries in it still work.
Test the lights, check expiration dates, and confirm your carbon monoxide detector batteries are fresh.
