Winter outage checklist: 10 things to do right away (and 3 things not to do)

When the lights cut out on a freezing night, the first few minutes matter more than you think. The choices you make in that window can keep your home livable, protect critical equipment and medicine, and prevent injuries that often spike during winter blackouts. A clear checklist of what to do immediately, and what to avoid, turns a stressful outage into a manageable disruption instead of a cascading emergency.

This guide walks you through ten smart moves to make as soon as the power fails, along with three common mistakes that can put you, your family, and your neighbors at risk. Think of it as your playbook for staying warm, safe, and in control until the grid comes back.

Stabilize your home and check on people first

Your first priority is people, not appliances. As soon as the power drops, find everyone in your household, including roommates and guests, and bring them into one main room so you can monitor how they are coping with the cold and any medical needs. A detailed outage checklist stresses that you should ensure your household’s safety and find each family member before you worry about anything else, then check whether anyone nearby needs assistance. If someone relies on oxygen concentrators, powered wheelchairs, or other life-sustaining devices, you should already have backup power in your emergency plan, and a dedicated power outage checklist underscores including that backup in your evacuation and shelter strategy.

Once everyone is accounted for, slow the loss of heat. Close interior doors so you are only trying to warm a smaller zone, pull curtains or blinds over windows, and add layers of clothing, socks, gloves, and hats. Guidance on how long a house can stay warm without electricity notes that you should close all windows and doors and use practical preparation and knowledge to retain heat after the power goes out. A separate homeowner checklist for outages in cold climates reinforces that you should keep warm in cold weather power cuts and take early action to retain heat before the house has time to cool. Acting quickly on these basics buys you crucial hours of comfort.

Protect food, medicine, and critical systems

Once people are safe and warmer, your next move is to protect what the outage can quietly ruin: food, refrigerated medicine, and sensitive electronics. Federal emergency guidance on power outages emphasizes that you should keep refrigerator and freezer doors shut as much as possible, because every opening dumps cold air and shortens the window before food spoils. The same guidance highlights that during a blackout you must keep freezers and refrigerators closed and pay attention to refrigerated medicines that depend on stable temperatures. If you know the outage will last, move the most critical items into a small cooler with ice packs to concentrate the remaining cold.

At the same time, you should shield your home’s electrical system from the surge that often arrives when power is restored. Winter storm safety advice for the Pacific Northwest recommends that you turn off and unplug electronics to protect them from surges when electricity is restored, especially televisions, computers, and gaming consoles. A separate winter outage guide advises you to protect against possible voltage irregularities by unplugging sensitive equipment and using surge protectors where you can. Leave one small lamp or incandescent bulb switched on so you can see instantly when the grid comes back, a tactic echoed in winter survival advice that tells you to turn on an incandescent light to signal when power is restored.

Lock in warmth and water before conditions worsen

In a winter outage, your home is slowly losing heat to the outside, so your early actions should focus on slowing that leak. If you receive advance warning that a cut is likely, one practical strategy is to preheat your living space. A power emergency guide notes that if you have time before a planned interruption, you should prepare for the outage by setting the highest temperature in your home so the building starts from a warmer baseline. Once the power is out, focus on insulation you can control quickly: roll towels against drafty door bottoms, move everyone to an interior room on an upper floor if possible, and pile on blankets and winter clothing, including coats, gloves, and hats, just as that same guidance recommends.

Cold also threatens your plumbing, and frozen pipes can turn a short outage into a weeks-long repair. A plumbing-focused winter checklist warns that winter storms can turn a calm evening into a plumbing emergency, but proactive steps can protect your home from costly damage. In practice, that means opening cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so warmer room air can circulate, letting faucets drip slightly to keep water moving, and knowing where your main shutoff valve is in case a pipe bursts. If you have a safe, non-electric heat source like a properly vented gas fireplace, use it to keep the area around vulnerable pipes above freezing, but never improvise with open ovens or grills, which introduce a different set of dangers.

Use light, heat, and generators safely

Once you have stabilized the basics, you can think about comfort, but safety has to stay in front of convenience. In the dark, it is tempting to reach for candles, yet cold-weather safety guidance is blunt that you should use flash lights in the dark, not candles, and eliminate unnecessary travel when roads and sidewalks are icy. A winter preparedness checklist suggests you place flashlights in every bedroom and charge power banks and weather radios ahead of time so you are not scrambling in the dark. If you have battery-powered lanterns, keep them on low settings to stretch runtime, and reserve your phone battery for essential communication rather than streaming or gaming.

Heat sources that burn fuel are even more fraught. Winter outage advice repeatedly warns that beware of carbon monoxide and make sure detectors are working on a regular basis, because this gas is colorless, odorless, and deadly. A separate analysis of winter emergencies explains that when you burn fossil fuels for heat or power, they release carbon monoxide that can replace the air in our homes, especially during winter power outages and emergencies. That is why official outage guidance insists that if you use a generator, you must use generators only outdoors and away from windows, and know where warming or cooling locations are open near you. Never run a generator in a garage, even with the door open, and never use charcoal grills, camp stoves, or propane heaters inside your home or on enclosed porches.

Stay informed, report hazards, and know when to leave

Information is its own form of protection in a winter outage, especially when roads are slick and emergency crews are stretched. State emergency managers advise that you avoid downed power lines, stay at least 35 feet away, and understand that blocked roads can delay emergency response times. If you see a line on the ground or hanging low, treat it as live and dangerous, keep others away, and call your utility. A separate winter energy guide reinforces that while it may be tempting to try to move debris yourself, you should stay away from downed lines outside your home and let crews handle them, because contact can be fatal even if the wire looks inactive.

At the same time, you should keep your utility and local officials in the loop. An outage planning guide recommends that you call the power company, create an evacuation plan, and check on friends, family, and vulnerable neighbors who may not be able to advocate for themselves. Another winter storm advisory urges you to turn off and unplug electrical equipment, leave one light on, and use phones and radios to stay in touch and stay informed about changing conditions. If your home becomes too cold to safely occupy, or if you lose water and cannot protect pipes, that is when your evacuation plan matters most, including knowing the nearest warming center or the friend whose house still has power.

Three things you should not do in a winter outage

Some of the most dangerous moves in a blackout come from improvisation. One of the clearest red lines is using outdoor equipment indoors. Winter survival experts warn that you should not take risks on grills, camp stoves, or generators inside because carbon monoxide can build up in your home, even if a window is cracked. Official outage guidance repeats that you must use generators only outdoors and away from windows, and carbon monoxide safety campaigns stress that they release carbon monoxide that can replace breathable air in enclosed spaces. If you are cold enough to consider breaking this rule, it is time to relocate to a warming center or a friend’s house, not to gamble with fumes.

The second mistake is ignoring fire and electrical risk when the power flickers back. A restoration guide notes that a power surge or spike can damage appliances and wiring, and that you should be ready to ventilate smoke outside the home if something overheats. That is why winter storm advice tells you to protect against possible voltage irregularities by unplugging sensitive equipment before the grid stabilizes. The third misstep is assuming you are on your own and not reaching out. Emergency planners emphasize that blocked roads can delay emergency response times, so neighbors often become first responders for one another. Checking in on older residents, people with disabilities, or families with infants can be as life-preserving as any gadget in your emergency kit.

Winter outages are stressful, but they do not have to be chaotic. If you stabilize your household, protect your food and equipment, lock in heat, use light and generators safely, and avoid the three high-risk mistakes, you give yourself the best odds of riding out the cold with your health, your home, and your peace of mind intact.