Scenario

Preparing for a Winter Storm

How do I prepare for a winter storm?

Work backwards from the deadlines. Days ahead, deal with the plumbing and fuel. The day before, charge everything, fill containers with water and park sensibly. In the last hours, protect the pipes and locate the stop tap and torches. Everything on the list is triggered by a forecast, not by the first snowflake.

Three days out

The things that need a shop, a trade, or time — and the things everybody else will be doing in 48 hours.

Fill any fuel you burn. Oil, propane, wood, pellets. Deliveries stop when the roads do.
Book anything that needs booking. A boiler with an intermittent fault before a storm is a boiler that will fail during it, and every engineer is booked out once the weather arrives.
Fill the car. Petrol stations need power for their pumps.
Check the medicines. Prescriptions that will run out inside a week.
Test the heating properly, not just that it comes on — that every radiator gets hot and the pressure is right.
Deal with the outdoor plumbing. Hoses off, outdoor taps drained and covered, irrigation blown down. This is the last comfortable moment to do it.

The day before

Charge everything. Phones, battery packs, torches, laptops, anything with a battery worth having.
Fill water containers. Around four litres per person per day for three days, plus pets. Fill the bath too if a supply interruption is plausible.
Get cash. Card terminals need power and a connection.
Cook something. A pot of something reheatable is a much better position than a freezer full of raw ingredients and no way to cook them.
Turn the fridge and freezer to their coldest. A full, cold freezer holds for a day or more unopened.
Park deliberately. Away from trees and overhead lines, off the carriageway if ploughs are coming, facing out if you might need to leave.
Bring in what the wind will take. Bins, furniture, trampolines, anything loose.
Find the torches, and the stop tap. In daylight, not at 2 am by phone light.

The last few hours

This is the plumbing window, and it is the one with a four-figure repair bill attached.

Open the cupboard doors under sinks on exterior walls, so room air reaches the pipes.
Set a trickle running on the tap furthest from the incoming main, once the low is near or below −6 °C (20 °F).
Do not set the heating back overnight. Hold the daytime setting; the margin protecting your pipes is heat leaking out of the heated rooms.
Close the crawl space vents if you have them and have not already.
Charge the last things and put a torch in the room you will be in.

The reasoning behind the −6 °C threshold and the dripping tap is in what temperature pipes freeze at and how to keep pipes from freezing.

Which forecast number triggers what

Not every winter storm needs the full list. The overnight low decides how far down it you go.
Forecast low	How far down the list
Above 0 °C (32 °F)	Wind and snow items only. No plumbing risk
0 to −6 °C (32–20 °F)	Outdoor taps, cupboard doors, no overnight setback
−6 to −12 °C (20–10 °F)	Everything, including the trickle
Below −12 °C (10 °F), or several nights	Everything, and expect the risk to compound each night
Any of the above, leaving the house empty	Everything, plus hold 13 °C (55 °F) and have someone check

If the power goes

Consolidate into one room. Close doors to everywhere else. Pick a room with south-facing windows if you have one.
Keep the fridge and freezer closed. Every opening costs hours of holding time.
Never burn anything indoors that was not designed for it. No generator in a garage, no charcoal grill inside, no camping stove in a closed room. Carbon monoxide is the thing that turns a power cut into a tragedy, and it gives no warning.
Watch the indoor temperature, not the clock. If the house is heading towards freezing, the plumbing becomes the priority and going somewhere heated becomes a reasonable decision.
Layer, and eat. Several thin layers beat one thick one, and a body with food in it generates more heat.

The thaw is when the damage shows

A frozen pipe does not leak while it is frozen. It leaks when the plug melts, often hours after the storm has passed and everyone has stopped paying attention. If pipes froze, be at home and near the stop tap during the thaw.

Afterwards

Check the plumbing before assuming you got away with it. Run every tap; look for damp patches on ceilings and walls near pipe runs.
Check the roof and gutters for ice damming and for anything the wind moved.
Clear snow off vents and flues, especially a boiler flue or an extraction vent. A blocked flue is a carbon monoxide risk.
Restock what you used, while you remember what was missing.
Write down what you wished you had had. The next storm is next winter, and you will not remember.

Common questions

How much water should I store?

The common guidance is around four litres, or one gallon, per person per day for at least three days, plus extra for pets. Fill a bath as well if a supply interruption looks likely — that water is for flushing rather than drinking, and it removes the most awkward problem in a long outage.

Should I leave taps dripping during a winter storm?

Once the overnight low is near or below −6 °C (20 °F), yes. A trickle about the thickness of a pencil lead on the tap furthest from the incoming main. Moving water freezes more slowly, and an open tap gives pressure somewhere to go if an ice plug does form, which is the part that prevents a burst.

What should I do if the power goes out in the cold?

Close off rooms you are not using and gather in one room, preferably with south-facing windows. Keep the fridge and freezer shut. Never run a generator, grill or camping stove indoors or in a garage. If the house is dropping towards freezing, protect the plumbing and consider going somewhere heated.

Do I need to do anything to my car?

Fill the tank, top up the screenwash with a proper winter mix, and check the tyres. Park away from trees and off the road if the ploughs will come through. Keep a blanket, a torch, a scraper and some food in the boot — a car is a shelter if you get stuck, and a cold one if you have nothing in it.

How far ahead should I start?

Three days for anything involving a shop or a trade, because both run out. The day before for charging, water and fuel. The last few hours for the pipes and the torches. The single most useful habit is checking the forecast lows a few days out rather than reacting when the snow starts.

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