Emergency Supplies for a Winter Storm

Build your winter storm emergency kit

A winter storm emergency kit keeps your household warm, watered, and fed for 72 hours even if the storm takes the power with it. Tap each item as you gather it, or print the list; your checks are stored on this device.

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Built for this guide

The Deep Freeze: Winter Storm Home Kit

Everything on the checklist above, assembled and sized for your household: safe indoor heat with a CO alarm beside it, fifteen-hour candles and headlamps, water storage, a weather radio, and a week of hot meals. Passed through to Amazon at cost - no markup from us.

See the Deep Freeze kitAll winter-ready kits

What to do in a winter storm: Watch through recovery

Winter storms usually come with notice: Ready.gov says a Watch is usually issued 12 to 48 hours before the storm begins. The Watch-to-Warning window is where preparedness actually happens; everything after that is execution.

1. 1

   Winter Storm Watch issued (usually 12 to 48 hours out)

   A Watch means a blizzard, heavy snow, heavy freezing rain, or heavy sleet is possible. Fill water jugs and the bathtub, charge every battery pack, top off heating fuel and the car’s gas tank, and move the vehicle kit into the trunk. Run the pharmacy and grocery errands now, while the roads are clear.

2. 2

   Winter Storm Warning issued (storm is imminent)

   A Warning means hazardous winter weather is imminent or already occurring. Finish preparations and get everyone home. Set the plan for where the household sleeps if the heat fails - one room, with doors to the rest of the house closed. Open kitchen and bathroom sink cabinets so warmer air reaches the plumbing, and let faucets served by unheated pipes drip slowly.

3. 3

   During the storm

   Stay off the roads if at all possible. Track conditions on a NOAA weather radio or WEA alerts rather than draining your phone. If you must use backup heat, follow the carbon monoxide rules absolutely: generators and grills stay outdoors, a generator at least 20 feet from windows, doors, and attached garages, and a gas stovetop or oven is never a heater.

4. 4

   If the power fails in the cold

   Move the household into the one pre-chosen room and heat the people, not the house: layers, hats, blankets, sleeping bags, shared body heat. Watch everyone for shivering, confusion, fumbling hands, or slurred speech - warming the chest, neck, and head comes first, and a body temperature below 95°F means seek medical attention immediately. If indoor temperatures keep falling and you have a safe route, relocate to a warming center.

5. 5

   After the storm

   Wait for roads to be cleared before driving; the National Weather Service notes that thousands of people are injured or killed every year in traffic accidents related to slippery roads from winter storms. Check pipes for leaks as they thaw, refill anything you used from the kit, and restock fuel. Check on neighbors, especially the elderly and anyone whose heat did not come back with yours.

Heat the person, not the house

When a winter storm takes the heat out, the instinct is to warm the whole home back up. The safe play is the opposite: shrink the problem. Pick one room - south-facing if you have the choice - close its doors, and concentrate people, blankets, and sleeping bags there. The National Weather Service’s advice when the heat goes out is the same: close off unneeded rooms, stuff towels in the cracks under doors, and wear loose layers.

The rules that keep an improvised heat plan from becoming a carbon monoxide emergency are absolute:

• Never heat your home with a gas stovetop or oven.
• Generators, charcoal grills, and camping stoves stay outdoors - a generator more than 20 feet from any window, door, or vent. Never in the garage, even with the door open.
• A fireplace or wood stove is an emergency heat source only when it is properly ventilated.
• A working carbon monoxide detector on every level is part of the winter kit, not an optional extra. CO is colorless and odorless and, in the CDC’s words, kills without warning; a detector is how you find out.

Keep the pipes from freezing

Burst pipes are the quiet second disaster of a hard freeze. The prevention steps the National Weather Service lists are simple:

• Before the season: insulate water lines that run through unheated areas and along exterior walls, and learn where and how to shut off the main water supply in case a pipe ruptures.
• When hard cold arrives: open kitchen and bathroom sink cabinets so warmer air circulates around the plumbing, and let faucets drip slowly to keep unheated pipes from freezing.

The beginner's guide in the article library below walks through each step.

The car is part of the plan

The National Weather Service counts thousands of people injured or killed every year in traffic accidents related to slippery roads from winter storms, and Ready.gov's advice is to stay off roads if at all possible. The vehicle kit exists for the trips that cannot wait and the storm that arrives early.

• All winter: blankets, high-calorie snacks, water, extra warm clothing, shovel, scraper, tow rope, jumper cables, and sand or cat litter for traction. Gas tank stays near full.
• Before any storm-season trip: check road conditions on 511, tell someone your route, and carry a printed map rather than depending on a phone with limited battery life.
• If you get stranded: stay in the car. Run the motor about 10 minutes each hour for heat, only after clearing snow from the exhaust pipe, open a window a little while it runs, and make the vehicle visible with the dome light at night and a bright cloth on the antenna or door.

Watch, Warning, Advisory: what each alert asks of you

Winter alerts arrive in a fixed vocabulary. Knowing what each one means turns a wall of notifications into a schedule.

Winter storm preparedness FAQ

Sources

The safety guidance on this page follows these sources. Where the National Weather Service or the CDC says otherwise, trust them over us.

• Winter Weather — Ready.gov

  Supports: the Watch, Warning, and Advisory definitions in the alert table and FAQ ("Winter Storm Warnings are usually issued 12 to 24 hours before the event is expected to begin"; "Winter Storm Watches are usually issued 12 to 48 hours before the beginning of a Winter Storm"; an Advisory is issued for accumulations "which will cause significant inconveniences and, if caution is not exercised, could lead to life-threatening situations"), the under-a-Warning advice ("IF YOU ARE UNDER A WINTER STORM WARNING, FIND SHELTER RIGHT AWAY"), the stay-off-roads and stay-inside-if-stranded guidance, the carbon monoxide rules ("only use generators and grills outdoors and away from windows and never heat your home with a gas stovetop or oven"; generators "at least 20 feet away from windows, doors and attached garages"; CO detectors "on every level of your home"), the hypothermia signs list and warm-the-center-first treatment, and the vehicle kit contents.

• Winter Storm Safety — National Weather Service

  Supports: the after-the-storm road caution: "Thousands of people are injured or killed every year in traffic accidents related to slippery roads from winter storms."

• Winter Weather Warnings, Watches and Advisories — National Weather Service

  Supports: the Ice Storm and Blizzard Warning rows: Ice Storm Warnings are "usually issued for ice accumulation of around 1/4 inch or more", which will "likely lead to snapped power lines and falling tree branches"; a Blizzard Warning brings "whiteout conditions making travel extremely difficult. Do not travel. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle and wait for help to arrive."

• What To Do If You're Caught in a Winter Storm — National Weather Service

  Supports: the stranded-in-a-car answer ("Stay in the vehicle! If you leave your vehicle, you will become disoriented quickly in wind-driven snow and cold. Run the motor about 10 minutes each hour for heat. While running the motor, open the window a little for fresh air to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Clear snow from the exhaust pipe"; "Turn on the dome light at night when running the engine. Tie a bright colored cloth, preferably red, to your antenna or door"), and the if-your-heat-goes-out steps ("Close off unneeded rooms to avoid wasting heat"; "Wear layers of loose-fitting, lightweight, warm clothing").

• Home Preparedness Tips for Prolonged Frigid Cold — National Weather Service, New York NY office

  Supports: the pipe steps: "Insulate water supply lines that run through unheated areas"; "Open kitchen and bathroom sink cabinets to allow warmer air to circulate around plumbing"; "Allow faucets to drip slowly to keep unheated pipes from freezing"; "know where and how to shut off the main water supply in case of a ruptured pipe."

• Before a Winter Storm — National Weather Service

  Supports: the heating-fuel item ("refuel before you are empty; fuel carriers may not reach you for days"), the properly-ventilated emergency heat source guidance, the near-full gas tank rule ("Keep your gas tank near full to avoid ice in the tank and fuel lines"), cat litter or sand for traction, the printed-map-and-compass item ("Compass and road maps, don’t depend on mobile devices with limited battery life"), and calling 511 for road conditions.

• During Cold Weather — National Weather Service

  Supports: the generator placement rule (outdoors, at least 20 feet from doors, windows, and garages), the below-95°F hypothermia definition, the dress-in-layers and warm-hat guidance, "Mittens are better than gloves", and beginning CPR if a hypothermia victim is unconscious.

• Preventing Cold-Related Illness — CDC

  Supports: the FAQ statement that a body temperature below 95°F requires immediate medical attention, that hypothermia can occur at temperatures above 40°F when a person is chilled by moisture, and the loose-layers, hat, and mittens clothing guidance.

• Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Basics — CDC

  Supports: the CO detector item and the heating rules: CO "is an odorless, colorless gas that kills without warning"; "Never heat your house with a gas oven"; "Never use a portable gas camp stove indoors"; "Never use a generator inside your home or garage, even if doors and windows are open. Only use generators outside, more than 20 feet away from any windows, doors, and vents."

Deep dives from our article library

Winter storms are the deepest topic in our library. Each of these goes further on a single part of winter preparedness than one page allows.

All of our winter storm and severe weather guides sit on one page, and you can set alerts for storms and outages at your address.

Complete Winter Storm Home Preparedness Guide

Pillar article for this topic: room-by-room home preparation for a winter storm.

Top 10 Winter Storm Preparation Mistakes

A walkthrough of ten common heating, water, and safety mistakes people make when preparing for a winter storm, and how to avoid each one.

How to Prevent Pipes from Freezing: A Beginner’s Guide

A beginner’s guide to keeping pipes from freezing: the drip, the cabinet doors, and the shutoff valve, step by step.

Essential Winter Car Emergency Kit Checklist

A checklist for the winter kit that rides in your trunk, and how to use it if you get stranded.

Quick Winter Storm Evacuation Checklist

A checklist for evacuating ahead of a winter storm without forgetting the essentials.

Winter Storm Communications Backup Plan

Backup ways for a separated family to stay in contact when phone service is unreliable during a winter storm.