Winter Power Outage: How to Stay Warm and Safe Without Power

October 3, 2026

Winter outages are different from summer ones. In July a dead grid is miserable. In January it gets dangerous, and the danger usually comes from what people do to stay warm, not from the cold itself. Ice storms are the common cause: ice on the lines brings down trees and poles across a whole county at once, and crews work through it one street at a time. Planning for three days without power is reasonable. Planning for a week is better.

Heat: pick one room and hold it

A whole house loses heat fast. One room holds it much longer. Choose an interior room with the fewest windows, close the doors, roll a towel against the gap under the door, and hang blankets over the windows at night. Put everyone in that room to sleep. Body heat from a family in one small room adds up.

Layers beat one heavy coat. Hats indoors help more than people expect.
Sleep warm: a sleeping bag or a reflective sleep sack inside your blankets keeps the heat you make.
Emergency blankets are cheap and weigh almost nothing. Keep a few in the house and one in each car.

Carbon monoxide: the part that kills people

Every winter outage brings carbon monoxide deaths. They come from generators run in garages, grills and camp stoves used indoors, and ovens turned on for heat. Carbon monoxide has no smell.

Run a generator outside only, at least 20 feet from the house, with the exhaust pointed away from doors and windows (the Consumer Product Safety Commission's guidance). An open garage door is not enough.
Never cook or heat with a grill, camp stove, or charcoal indoors.
Put a battery carbon monoxide alarm in the room you are holding and outside the bedrooms. Check the batteries now, not during the storm.
Indoor-rated propane heaters exist. Use only one rated for indoor use, follow the label on ventilation, and still run a CO alarm.

Water: frozen pipes and empty taps

Store one gallon per person per day, for at least three days (Ready.gov's minimum). Pets need water too. In a long freeze, pipes can burst and the municipal system can lose pressure, so the water you stored before the storm may be the water you have.

Before the storm: fill containers and a water storage tank or stackable jugs. Fill the bathtub for flushing.
Let a faucet drip on outside walls to help keep pipes from freezing. Open the cabinet doors under sinks.
Know where your main water shutoff is. A burst pipe in an empty house does a lot of damage in an hour.

Food: eat the fridge first

A closed refrigerator keeps food safe for about 4 hours. A full freezer holds for about 48 hours, a half-full one about 24, as long as the door stays shut (FoodSafety.gov). Plan meals in that order: fridge, then freezer, then shelf food.

Shelf food that needs no cooking matters most when you have no stove: canned goods, peanut butter, crackers, ration bars and ready meals.
A manual can opener. People forget this one every time.
If you do cook, cook outside or on an appliance rated for indoor use.

Light and power

Candles cause house fires during outages. Use them only if you watch them, and lean on battery light instead.

A headlamp for every adult keeps hands free. A lantern lights the room you are holding. See power and light.
A small portable power station keeps phones charged for days, runs a CPAP for a night or two, and powers a radio and lights. It runs indoors safely because it burns nothing.
Keep the car's gas tank at least half full in winter. A car is a charger and a warm place to sit for a few minutes, but never run it in a closed garage.

News when the internet is down

Cell towers run on batteries and generators that eventually run out. A hand crank or battery weather radio gets NOAA weather alerts and local AM/FM news with no grid and no signal.

The car

Most winter storm deaths outside the home happen in cars. If you must drive, carry a blanket, water, a snack, a phone charger, a flashlight, a small shovel, and something bright to tie to the antenna. If you get stuck, stay with the car, run the engine about 10 minutes an hour for heat, and keep the tailpipe clear of snow. A roadside emergency kit covers most of that list in one bag.