How to Prepare for Severe Weather Season

01

Know Your Risks

Every region faces different threats. Tornadoes in the Plains, hurricanes on the Gulf, wildfires across the West, ice storms in the Southeast, flash floods in mountain valleys. Before you buy a single piece of gear, understand what your address is most likely to face — and what your local emergency management office already recommends for it.

02

Build a 72-Hour Emergency Kit

Emergency responders and utility crews consistently recommend preparing to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours. That's the window it typically takes for outside help to arrive, roads to reopen, power to be restored to critical areas, or for you to safely relocate. Everything in this kit should live in one place, be easy to carry, and be inspected twice a year.

03

Prepare for Power Outages

Losing electricity creates cascading problems: no lights, no refrigeration, no heat or A/C, no well pumps, no garage door openers, and often no cell service once local towers exhaust their backup batteries. Preparing for outages specifically — not just "storms" — is one of the highest leverage things a household can do.

04

Prepare for Wildfire Smoke

Wildfire smoke can travel hundreds, even thousands, of miles from an active fire. Communities that have never seen a wildfire in their lifetime now spend weeks each summer under hazardous air quality alerts. The response is different from most emergencies: you're not evacuating, you're sheltering — sometimes for days at a time — and the goal is clean indoor air.

Clean indoor air isn't a comfort item during prolonged smoke events — it's a health intervention. Fine particulate exposure over days and weeks is what causes lasting damage, especially for children, older adults, and anyone with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions.

05

Prepare for Extreme Heat

Extreme heat is quietly one of the deadliest weather hazards in North America — more lethal in most years than hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods combined. It's also one of the easiest to prepare for, because most of the response happens inside your home.

06

Protect Your Home

A weekend of home prep in the shoulder seasons prevents most of the property damage households actually experience during severe weather. Walk your property with this checklist twice a year.

• Trim dead branches
• Secure patio furniture
• Clean gutters
• Inspect roof
• Know utility shutoffs
• Store outdoor equipment
• Test sump pump

07

Stay Informed

In a real emergency, information becomes a resource. You want it from multiple, redundant sources — and you want at least one that works without cell service.

Relying only on social media is a mistake. Feeds are ranked, delayed, and full of well-meaning strangers sharing outdated screenshots. Use it as a supplement, never as your primary alerting system.

08

Create a Family Emergency Plan

The best kit in the world doesn't help if half your family is at work, the other half at school, and no one has agreed on where to meet. Sit down for thirty minutes, once a year, and answer these five questions together.

09

Seasonal Preparedness Checklist

Print this. Stick it on the inside of a cabinet. Run through it every spring and fall.

• Replace flashlight batteries
• Charge backup batteries
• Test smoke alarms
• Inspect first aid supplies
• Rotate stored water
• Review emergency contacts
• Trim trees
• Review insurance
• Locate important documents
• Review evacuation plan

10

Final Thoughts

Whether it's wildfire smoke drifting across the Midwest, an extended heat wave, or a severe thunderstorm that leaves your neighborhood without power, preparation gives you options when they matter most.

You don't need to do everything today.

Start with one improvement this week. Then another next month.

Preparedness is built one small decision at a time.