Winter weather often makes the news, whether it’s most of the nation experiencing freezing temps for much of a week, or a massive snowstorm in Buffalo, NY that sets a new record for the most snowfall in a 24-hour period at 76 inches. (!!!)
Even if (especially if?) this weather has little effect on you, it’s important to use these events to help us prepare for what we might face in the winter.
Josh over at the 7 P’s Blog did just this in his post by cataloging some lessons learned from the news. Josh observes:
“Gone are the days when nearly every family could wait out three feet of snow and no power for a week, today we lose internet for an hour and expect a presidential disaster declaration. This event, like so many others has shown me how much we are dependent on a just-in-time delivery system, the power gird and so many other things which never used to have control over our lives even twenty years ago.How many of you believe if this came to your community today you would be ready to be self sufficient and warm for two weeks without power or access to goods and services?”
He goes on to highlight some areas of preparedness that you should take a good look at now, before extreme winter weather comes to find you.
Vehicle Winter Emergency Kit
One winter, even in Atlanta, GA, a winter storm shut down the highways, trapping commuters on many roads for up to 24 hours. Josh asks some of the hard questions on this topic:
“How do you keep your vehicle prepared for this type of emergency? Do you always keep your gas tank above 1/2 in the winter? Even when traveling long distance to visit family or for work? Would you survive a night or two in your car if stranded?”
If you don’t already have one built and in your car, get going on it now.
Long Term Power Outage
Winter is perhaps the worst time for the power to go out, precisely because most homes are now completely dependent on grid electricity for either the supply or distribution of heat. Are you ready to keep your home and family warm if the power goes out for a day? A week?
Disruption of Supply of Goods and Services
I live in Virginia, and a large snowfall of several feet can take days to a week to clean up here, due to the availability of snow clearing equipment. If you can’t get to the store due to snow or road closures, do you have the supplies you need to make it through until roads are cleared and goods are available again? If the stores are empty of essential supplies due to breaks in the supply chain, are you prepared for it?
Or, are you like most Americans, who have little to no buffer between the commercial just-in-time supply chain and their own personal stores of essentials?
Josh has some good thoughts and shares some of his personal preparedness items in his post, so make sure you read his article on Snowpocalypse 2014 Lessons Learned.