Winter & Cold Weather

Surviving a Winter Blackout

Your Family's Guide to Staying Safe When the Heat and Power Go Out

Keep your family warm, fed, and safe when a winter storm knocks out both the heat and the power.

41 pages 6 sample pages below

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About this guide

What you will learn

A winter power outage is more than an inconvenience. When the heat goes out along with the lights, cold indoor temperatures, frozen pipes, icy roads, and unsafe heating choices can quickly become serious. Surviving a Winter Blackout is a 41-page family guide focused on staying safe when the heat and power go out, and on making good decisions before conditions become dangerous.

Prepare before the storm arrives

The guide begins before winter, helping you sign up for local alerts, understand the difference between a watch and a warning, identify a nearby place and a second place outside your neighborhood where you could stay, and build a kit a little at a time from what you already own. It encourages every household to make a plan that fits every person and animal in the home.

What's inside

Chapter 1: Prepare Before Winter
Chapter 2: The First Hour Without Heat
Chapter 3: Keep Everyone Warm
Chapter 4: Safe Heat, Power, and Carbon Monoxide, including generator placement away from the home
Chapter 5: Water and Frozen Pipes
Chapter 6: Food and Safe Cooking
Chapter 7: Children, Medical Needs, and Pets
Chapter 8: Stay, Get Help, or Leave
Chapter 9: Winter Travel and Seven-Day Decisions
Chapter 10: After the Storm and Power Restoration

Practical tools on every page

Plan Ahead boxes list concrete supplies, such as one flashlight per person, spare batteries, a working indoor thermometer, warm clothing and bedding for each person, and battery-backed smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Situation Assessment boxes ask the questions that matter in the moment: Who needs electricity, heat, medicine, or help moving? Where can we go before icy roads make travel unsafe? Printable family planning pages help you record contacts, supplies, and decisions, and a full source list supports further reading.

Grounded in trusted guidance

Recommendations are supported by numbered references to the CDC, the American Red Cross, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, FoodSafety.gov, FDA, FEMA, and the National Weather Service, covering winter storm preparedness, frostbite and hypothermia, frozen pipes, carbon monoxide, emergency water, food safety, medicines, infant feeding, pets, and clearing snow from vehicle tailpipes.

After the storm

The final chapter helps you restart safely once power returns: checking for hazards, deciding what food and medicine to keep, restocking supplies, and reviewing what worked so your plan is stronger for the next storm.

Who it's for

Families in any region that can see snow, ice, or extreme cold, especially households with infants, older adults, people with medical needs, or pets. If your home depends on electricity for heat, this guide helps you plan for warmth, water, food, and safety when the grid goes down in the coldest part of the year.

References