A massive snowstorm hits and knocks out the power. The lights go dark, the TV shuts off, and the heater to your home quits working. Slowly, it starts to get less and less warm and then a little chilly.
Outside, the snow is falling hard and the wind is howling. It doesn’t let up. You notice the snow starts to pile up against your windows. The temperature in your home starts to decrease rapidly now.
You try to get in contact with other people you know, but the internet and cell service are disconnected and you can’t get in touch with anyone.
It now starts to dawn upon you: you’re in the middle of a winter-time blackout, and you may be stuck in your home for a long time.
So, what’s the very first thing you should do?
The First Thing to Do When a Winter Blackout Occurs
The very first thing you need to do when a power blackout from a winter blizzard has occurred is probably not what you initially expected.
Should you start to get your wood stove going? Take inventory of your food and supplies? Pull out blankets and sleeping bags?
Those things are important, but those are not the first things you should do either.
Rather, the very first thing that you should do in a winter blackout is to unplug all of your electronics and appliances.
The reason for this is simple: the moment the power comes back on in a few days or weeks, the chances are very strong that the electrical system to your home will oversurge and damage any devices or appliances that you have plugged in.
Related: Off-Grid Appliances Everyone Should Have In Their Home
The only way to protect those devices and appliances from that happening is to unplug them.
Examples of the devices and appliances that you’ll want to make sure you unplug include:
- Laptops
- Tablets
- Phones
- Televisions
- Video Game Consoles
- Microwaves
- Washing and Drying Machines
- Stove and Oven
Since the power is out, all of those above appliances and items are going to be useless to you anyway. Wait until the power has turned back on for a few hours before you plug everything back in.
If you fail to unplug the above items, the chances of them becoming damaged or rendered inoperable from an electrical surge when the power comes back on is too high (and expensive) of a risk to ignore. That’s why this should be the first action you take when the power goes out from the winter snow storm.
Steps to Take Before a Winter Blackout
There are also a number of important steps that you would be wise to take before a winter blackout has even occurred in the first place:
Insulate Your Home For Winter
There are several actions that you can take to adequately insulate your home for winter and the chances of a blizzard that comes with it in the first place:
- Insulate your pipes to stop them from freezing during a blizzard. This will also reduce the odds of the pipes bursting.
- Insulate your doors and windows to prevent heat from escaping your home. You can use window film for the windows, and weather strips and door sweeps for the doors to prevent heat from escaping.
- Insulate your attic. Even with the doors and windows insulated, a lot of heat can still escape through your uninsulated attic roof.
Have an Alternative Heat Source
It’s very important to have an alternative source of heat in the event your power shuts off for an extended period.
Regardless of how well you insulate your home, once your power and heat source shuts off the temperature in your home is going to decrease rapidly and it’s vital to have a backup option.
⇒ Cheap and Easy DIY Project to Heat Your Home Forever
The classic option is a wood stove, which is very easy to use and maintain. Make sure you have at least a two week’s supply of firewood on hand, in addition to kindling and a variety of reliable fire starting materials.
Have a Two Week’s Supply of Food and Water
At the bare minimum, you should have a two week’s supply of food and water in your home.
Make sure that the food can be prepared without the aid of modern day appliances. This is another reason why having a wood stove is so important, because you can safely cook meals indoors.
Make Sure Your Electronics Are Fully Charged
It’s wise to make it a habit to ensure that your electronic devices, like your laptop or tablet or phone, are always kept fully charged. You never know when a power outage will occur that precludes you from recharging those devices.
Additionally, consider investing in external battery packs and make sure that those packs are always fully charged as well. Other than a solar charger (which may not work during a winter blizzard anyway), external battery packs are virtually the only available option to keep your devices charged without power. I’d have multiple fully charged battery packs on hand since you never know how long the power outage will last.
Winter blackouts can be outlasted with the proper preparations. Just make sure to always unplug your electronics and appliances first as soon as you realize that you’re in for an extended time without power. You’ll be in for a nasty (and costly) surprise if you don’t.
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this is a good article. i never thought about the power surge issue. we used to get them all the time throughout the year but they’ve stopped a few years ago. the elec. co. put in a new meter and our bill went down also. this house was built in the 40’s out of oak wood, so who knows. some other helpful hints in this below zero cold snap. i keep a water feed line that i use to blow out the water lines with. un hook lines on the highest level of the house and on the lowest level and blow out the water in the line. you don,t need a compressor just balloon juice will do it. several gallons will come out, so use a clean bucket as this is good water. i then put a kerosene lantern in the well house to keep everything from freezing up. you’ll have to fill it a couple times a day. we went 11 days without elec. during an ice storm. i have other helpful hints if anyone is interested just let me know and i’ll post them. stay safe
A good refresher for the newbies, who moved to the snow country.
Off topic related;
The final food famine is coming to the United States soon if these liberals have their way. Those who cook on gas or wood stoves may hang on a little longer. Those who believe in climate change carbon footprint green energy are doomed from the get go. EV’s don’t do well in the snow climates and can not get wet or the Chinese made batteries will short circuit and fry.
There is no value in buying a used EV as the replacement batteries cost more than the blue book price when the value is less than $20 grand and the replacement batteries are around $20 grand depending on the brand and model.
The electric grid can not handle every American to own and charge their EV’s at once.
It would be like everyone during the Superbowl halftime all at once across the nation flushing their toilets causing a strain on the water and sewer pipes to get stressed and leak.
Ever wonder how the old gas powered vehicles started to get computers and sensors placed into the family vehicle? One part of the answer is many auto makers were losing money on warranty service due to backyard mechanics. Yes guys use to work on their own vehicles. Now with computers and sensors the guys no longer work on the complicated garbage.
The millennials wanted their home couch potato comforts of movies for their brats on long trips to be quiet and play their internet games.
All that lane change AI alarm and auto brake controls to avoid accidents is over rated. Those who want self driving cars are plain nuts.
Past 20th century cars were made to go from point A to point B fueled by gas and a AM radio for entertainment. The cost of cars were cheaper compared to the electronic Razzle Dazzle of the marketing to the weak minded consumer. We don’t need these high tech electronics to drive and maintain our vehicles.
Being a prepper is a state of mind of commonsense. The old high school education had home economics and shop classes for those not wanting to go to college. Trade schools are a better bang for the buck unless you want to be a doctor or lawyer back then. Today I would not recommend a young adult to go to any of the woke universities like Harvard, Yale or MIT with indoctrinated woke education they receive. Time to purge the woke out of Kindergarten through the upper crust universities and defund their government funding by taxpayers.
Old school education before the teacher’s union destroy any commonsense taught. Students had the necessary education to tackle many of the problems and issues we discuss on these articles on this prepper website.
Americans have become complacent, let someone else do the hard work or stay home not vote for the politician, let others vote for the other guy as we seen what we got Biden. The internet, smartphones and AI will be our downfall unless we stay awake and not woke.
GOD bless America!
I had my neighbor install a house surge protector in my breaker box around 2015.
Was the refrigerator excluded on purpose? Are they immune to electrical spikes?
On Oct 3rd when they did that big FEMA emergency alert and 5 G tower pulse we lost our capacitor in our indoor fridge as well as outdoor fridge. I was told to unplug everything and those were the two I forgot about. I turned off my phone and headed to the mountains. When I got home I plugged my entire house back in and both fridges were done for. I had a repair man come out and my two refrigerators were the 9th fridges of the day that the capacitor blew on.
Ironic HUH?
Oct 4th I couldn’t remember the date but it was a Wednesday.
As other times when the electricity goes out for days, I break out my camping gear…
All electronics should be on a surge supressor and if you can arrange it a whole house suppressor can be installed. I live in a larg city suburb and power is very reliable until it’s not. We losl power last Saturday during the below zero storm and I disconnected electronics but barely got candles lit when it power returned. Two hours, exactly. I have two generators but it didn’t come to that, not even to my back up batteries. Cell phone worked so I was in touch with the power co. and family. The house only lost two degrees in two hours, without alternate heat source. We have a gas stove so that worked with a match (how old school is that!)
We also lost power last week during a snow storm. We always have a wood stove going in the winter to reduce propane use and use less electricity. Our house is small so it works well.
We have battery UPS that also act as surge protectors in several locations in the house. Most of the items listed are plugged into one.
Didn’t think about the fridge & washer/dryer. No place to put a UPS near them. Will have to unplug.
I do have 3 battery packs to recharge phones. One has solar ability. I did get some candles out. The outage lasted 2 hours but I still needed to see.
I also have an inverter to plug into the car DC port that I can use to charge items. It’s handy.
We didn’t have to resort to the generator, this time.
Still more things to do to get ready for outages longer than two weeks.
Good luck everyone.
Good ideas, depends in what part of the country we live in for those projects to do.
The first thing to do in Biden’s world of Bidenomics is bend over and kiss your a*s goodby. The illegals are our replacements for a permanent voter slave block. They ruling crowd no longer cares for the existing Americans, the Demoncrats in California are illegals medical and medicaid, drivers license and the right to vote in our nations elections. These handouts are coming to your State, to give these illegals better opportunities over legal American citizens.
Remember you get the government you voted for. Elections do have consequences. In recent history look at Carter, Nixon, Bush, Clinton, Obama and now Biden. People like Charles Lindbergh was a Nazi party sympathizer, Eugenics, there are dark secrets of these past elites. These thoughts words and ideas are continuing currently in today’s elites who think they are better then us pions, not!
Either party can become a dictatorship, we got both liberals and conservatives in both parties the question is who will become the dictators.
More likely the Demoncrats will breakout into the dictatorship if we get Biden another 4 years, or Michelle Obama and/or CA gov Newsom to the executive office in Washington DC.
Time to build the wall, drill for oil, deport and purge the political parties of corrupt elitist. The types we originally fought against in the American Revolution, you know the Boston Tea Party and so on. Oh I forgot the public teachers union no longer teaches American history, they indoctrinate by revisionist history.
Most people won’t learn these techniques of prepper survival. They spend too much time on CCP Tik Tok for news. When the electrical grid goes down, no more internet and smartphones, They will become depressed and die. Many people no more have paper printed books in their libraries for reference. Most information is stored on erasable smartphone memory chips. Good luck to those woke people.
Country people will survive.
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
My home is entirely off grid solar power. When it was on grid power I unplugged or had surge protection. Usually only had a lamp plugged in and turned on so I would know when power returned. Now I have to sweep my solar panels off from snow storms. I have atleast days of battery power so I often cut back use in bad storms. I leave water running at a tiny stream in the bathroom and kitchen so it doesn’t freeze. I have small heaters that can go under the home to defrost drains or waterlines if necessary. I keep a tiny thermostat heater going in real cold weather so inside the home may get cool but not freeze if I don’t have a fire going. It’s protection for my canned goods in the home also.
Wouldn’t it be simpler to turn off everything at the breaker box?
Yes, but how do you know when it goes back on? Do what you want. Enjoy your blackout.
Throw the main switch to your home. Check your electric meter every 15 to 30 minutes to verify when power is restored. When power is restored it should be stable within several seconds. Throw the main back to power your home.
why isn’t your wood stove running already ?
I’ve shared this before. K1 fuel is what is used in kerosene lamps. Furnace won’t work without electricity. Having a 5 gal. Container of k1 will keep lamps burning for months. Also, buy extra wicks and store them in the kerosene reservoir of your lamps. Matches next to your candles is helpful. A gallon or two of RV antifreeze for your drains will stop damage long term. A cup in each will do. Lit oil lamp in your unheated pantry will save your supplies. Empty your freezer into coolers and store it outside. Good time to defrost and clean your fridge and freezer. Cuddle often but don’t overheat.
Can you Use that anti freeze trick if you are on a septic system? The last thing I can afford is a new septic system.
The volume is minimal. Rubbing alcohol will work. Frozen drains are costly. I had them 2 years ago.
Instead of unplugging everything, I turn off all the individual breakers. I leave one breaker on that I know goes only to the lights. When the power comes back on, I turn on each breaker one at a time.
Or, you could turn off the electrical breakers except for one that runs only one visible light so you’re aware of the power status.
I have lived in the country area and in the same house since I was 3 yrs old. I’m now 70 yrs old and this is what we have done during winter black outs.Once the temperature drops to 45 degrees in the house we turn off the toilet tanks supply line and flush the toilet. Next the toilet bowl is lined with a trash bag. Then we go into the basement and drain the water lines at the drain valve and turn the electricity to the water pump off. Also open all of the faucets in the house so that the water lines drain as well. Of course we contact the electric company and report the outage, but I still have a land line which has it’s own electrical system, but I still can use my cell phone too because the new cell tower has it’s own backup generator hooked to a gas line. I always have stored water for drinking and cooking year around because my house is the last house on the transmission line from the substation 7 miles away and I lose power every other month when something goes wrong with the power lines. Stay warm!
Its about time there was an article where it doesn’t call for a bunch of red necks to threaten to shoot people.
I agree. Why should rednecks have all the fun? Lol!!!
one of the most important items ever is
Candles
sealed coated matches
layers of cloths you can peel off , or add on as needed
lot s of extra socks
multiple hats for layering
Gloves , thin and thick so you can layer up
Drinking water , and empty bucket or pale for incase you have to go and you cannot go out side
Rememeber YOU will Never die or Freeze if you have a area , room you can seal, shut up , and lite a candle , the candle will keep the air above freeze pt
then there is wrap the pipes , layer
Tape to wrap with , both duct , and electrical or rope
as long as the pipes are wrapped , the chance of freezing is minimul
never a garantee , as to where you live and the frost level sub levels into the ground
measure out your energy
keep good protein rich food s on hand, only for a short time so use common sense
medications, food , water , toiletrys
basic survival anywhere
Great, except it doesn’t apply to just winter storms. Any power outage. Or just electrical storms. I learned some expensive lessons when I moved to Tidewater Virginia 25 years ago from sunny SoCal… lost a bunch of computer equipment in the first year during electrical storms.
Most of my appliances are analog, so no need to unplug. But the digital stuff is all on quality surge suppressors.
Never thought of that, great advice.
Well. It’s a good article. However, I have had electronic devices and appliances all of my 70 years. In that time, I have lived through many power outages. Some for only a few hours, some for days and even weeks. In all of those power outages, I have never unplugged anything from being concerned about a spike. I also have never lost a device or appliance to a surge when the power came back on. Call it dumb luck if you like but I believe the electricity that we have today (and have had) is engineered well. The grid infrastructure is not.
A side note. I’m on the Oregon coast and we occasionally get freezing rain, which causes way more damage than any snow storm. In the last 4 days, I have had my power out and come back on (mostly off of course) at least 10 times. Never had a problem with any of the items plugged in.
Your mileage may vary!
Now is the best time to invest in some solar lighting and solar re-charging devices and batteries. I purchased several small solar-solutions for when the power goes out, which happens often where I live. They are safer than candles and oil, especially with kids or pets, and the LED lights can light up an entire room for hours. The next day, set thee unit outside to recharge. These are not the cheap dollar-store sidewalk lights, rather they can ‘street light’ your entire home on the outside, and fully light a room on the inside when you bring them in. You can attach them to a wall, or just set them on a table.
We also have a large propane tank, which we keep well filled, and a flat-topped wood burner for heat, that could be used for heating food if needed.
This is the year where the monsters will throw everything they have at us.
Be ready, and don’t be surprised, be prepared.
Cell phone not working I still have a land line and it works when the power is out
Oregon just had a horrific winter storm, mostly ice fog, that took out power to several thousands for some, over a week long. The entire power systems were severely damaged. I live in a 1945 house that has had major maintenance to the foundation, windows, insulation and roof .
During the week of the actual storm, my power flickered several times for a few minutes then came back on. AFTER the storm, it went out, for me, only for 3 days. My entire small town lost power for 5 days.
There are still a few outlying areas that are without power.
Fortunately, I’m pretty well prepared. I have solar generators, a propane heater and now, 2 propane burners (cooktops) I say 2 as I’m certain that I have one in my camping gear, but couldn’t find it. i have one downstairs, now.
I had lots of water stored, and a ProOne gravity water filter. I had lots of no cook options for food and lots of cat food for my kitty.
I, too, have never shut breakers or power off in the house. Never had issues. I try to turn off most of the things that were on, but leave 1 light on for when the power returns, although, the refrigerator usually turns on and that tells me power is back up…
You can survive, but you do need to be prepared. For me, it was not finding the cooktop to heat water and for coffee!!!! So now I have solved that issue.
Just keep rooms closed off and try to stay in just one room to save body heat. DON’T use snow to try to flush toilet!!! When it’s 30* or below in the house, it won’t melt!!! (ask me how I know that!)
I do have surge protecters on most of my electronics. And a UPS for my computer that, when I FIND it, I’ll install it.
Oh, something I need to find out, but I HEARD that once surge protecters have been “Powered out” after a surge or power down situation, they are then useless and you need to replace them. Not sure if that’s true or not…
I had a 4 inch sheet of ice that formed on my metal roof. When it began warming up outside, it began sliding off. HUGE noise, that. Kitty didn’t like it!
Fortunately, it slides off in areas that I’m not prone to walk around in …but be careful if you have a metal roof as you can be killed by falling snow/ice!
Here where I live (Willamette Valley, Oregon) my power goes out at least once a year in winter. I have finally gotten prepared and am pretty ready should it happen again.
As always put on your 1880s top hat and think WWGGGDD (What Would Great-Great-Grand Dad Do or Grand Ma)! All the stuff in the story are fine. Simple old school stuff like heavy black-out curtains that fully close as normal decorations save heat every night as well as in an emergency. The same old school curtains over exterior doors add an antique charm and are functional. If you have an open concept floor plan home pre-build dividers to hold and reflect heat to a smaller area common in 1880s.