Winter Storm Readiness for Ohio Homeowners

A real winter storm in Central Ohio is the kind of event that turns a comfortable house into a cold, dark problem in about 90 minutes. I’ve ridden out the February 2021 ice storm, the December 2022 bomb cyclone, and the January 2024 polar event from inside my own house in Circleville and inside trucks on plow routes across Pickaway, Franklin, and Fairfield counties. Every one of those events taught me something about what residential storm readiness actually looks like.

This is the storm-readiness checklist I run at my own house and the same one I share with clients who ask. It assumes you have 72 hours of warning, which is typical for major Central Ohio winter events as forecast by the National Weather Service Wilmington office. If you only have 24 hours, you’ll have to compress it. If you only have 6 hours, the storm is already on you and you’re triaging.

What should I do to prepare for a major winter storm in Ohio?

Stock 72 hours of food and water, top up fuel and propane, charge batteries, prep the house against power loss, prep vehicles and snow tools, secure outdoor property, and confirm a check-in plan with neighbors and family. Those seven categories cover the full readiness picture. Skip any one and you’ll find out which one you skipped at exactly the wrong moment.

OSU Extension’s residential emergency preparedness materials echo the same priorities, and the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness publishes annual updates that I read every November. The materials are free and the priorities they outline are based on actual post-storm survey data from Ohio households. Trust the framework.

72-hour window: water, food, fuel

Water first. The CDC and FEMA guidance is 1 gallon per person per day for drinking and basic hygiene. Three days at four people is 12 gallons. Most households don’t have 12 gallons on hand. Solutions:

• Fill bathtubs and large containers before the storm hits (good for flushing toilets, not drinking)
• Stage cases of bottled water in a temperature-controlled space (a frozen garage is not it)
• Fill clean pitchers from the tap and store in the refrigerator
• If you have a well, fill containers because well pump runs on electricity

Food second. Three days of food that doesn’t require cooking or refrigeration. Peanut butter, crackers, canned goods with pop tops, jerky, dried fruit, instant oatmeal you can mix with cold water. A camp stove with an outdoor-only safe location helps if you have one. Never use a charcoal grill or gas grill indoors. Carbon monoxide deaths in Ohio after winter storms almost always trace back to indoor or attached-garage grilling.

Fuel third. Vehicle fuel tanks above 3/4 full before the storm. Generator fuel stored properly in approved containers, well away from the house. Propane tanks topped up. Wood stove or fireplace wood stacked and accessible. Kerosene heater fuel if you run one, with the heater serviced in October and a working CO detector in the same room.

Power outage planning

Most Central Ohio winter storms drop power somewhere. The February 2021 ice storm took out parts of Pickaway County for 4 days. The December 2022 wind event dropped pockets of Franklin County for 36 hours. Plan for 48 to 72 hours of outage.

Generator setup (if you have one):

• Tested in October, not the night of the storm
• Stored outdoors, never indoors, never in an attached garage
• Wired through a transfer switch if it’s connected to the house panel
• Fuel stored in approved containers, refilled before the storm
• Extension cords rated for outdoor use and for the load they’re carrying
• Surge protectors on anything sensitive (computers, TVs, modems)

No-generator setup:

• Battery banks charged and ready (USB power packs for phones)
• Headlamps and flashlights with fresh batteries (better than candles)
• Wood stove or fireplace as a backup heat source if you have one
• Sleeping bags rated for at least 20 degrees colder than your worst expected indoor temp
• A plan to consolidate the family to one warm room if the house cools

Carbon monoxide detectors with battery backup in every sleeping area. Test them in November. If you don’t have CO detectors, buy them today. Twenty dollars at any hardware store. Every winter Ohio has a small number of CO deaths from improper heating, and every one of them was preventable.

Home prep against the cold

If the power goes out and the furnace stops, the house starts cooling at roughly 1 degree per hour at outside temps near zero. A house at 68 degrees indoors with an outdoor temp of 5 degrees and no heat will hit 32 degrees indoors in about 36 hours. That’s when pipes start to freeze.

The pre-storm house prep:

• Identify pipes on exterior walls and open the cabinet doors below them (warm air access)
• Allow a slow drip from faucets fed by exterior-wall lines
• Set the thermostat to a steady temperature (don’t dial it down at night during a storm)
• Caulk and weatherstrip any obvious leaks before the storm
• Move plants away from cold windows
• If you have a pellet stove, fill the hopper and verify the venting is clear
• Reverse ceiling fans to push warm air down

On a Lancaster client’s home in February 2024, the family lost power for 16 hours during a low of 2 degrees. They had opened the kitchen cabinet doors below the sink, dripped the master bath faucet, and kept the house above 50 degrees with a properly vented wood stove. No frozen pipes. Total cost of preparation: 20 minutes of work the day before.

Vehicle prep

Even if you don’t plan to drive during the storm, the vehicle has to be ready for the day after.

• Fuel above 3/4 full
• Tires checked and at recommended cold PSI
• Battery load-tested if more than 3 years old
• Washer fluid winter-rated and topped up
• Ice scraper inside the vehicle, not in the garage
• Snow brush
• Emergency kit: blanket, snacks, water, charger, jumper cables, small shovel, sand or kitty litter for traction, flares
• Charged phone before the storm hits
• Vehicle parked where you can get to it (not blocked in by the snow stockpile)

If you have a garage, park inside. If you don’t, park facing outward so you don’t have to back through deep snow. Cover the windshield with a tarp or windshield cover overnight to make the morning scraping faster.

Snow tools and walkway prep

If you handle your own snow removal:

• Shovels at every door, matched to the surface
• Deicer stocked and matched to the surface (chloride-safe for asphalt, sand or CMA for new concrete)
• Snow blower fueled, started, and oiled in October-November
• Spare shear pins for the snow blower
• Snow blower keys and starting instructions accessible (not in a drawer in the house)
• Boot tray at every door
• Cold-weather work gloves dry and ready

If you have a plow contractor:

• Confirm the trigger and arrival expectation
• Confirm what you handle (often the front walk and steps) vs what they handle (driveway and sometimes walks)
• Save the contractor’s contact in your phone
• Mark anything you don’t want the plow to hit (sprinklers, bed edges, decorative stones)

On a Pickerington property I service, the homeowner is in his 80s and physically cannot shovel. We have a standing agreement that any storm over 1 inch triggers a full clear including the front walk, the back walk, and a path to the trash bins. That’s documented in his contract and there is no confusion when the storm hits.

Outdoor property security

Outdoor items that need attention before the storm:

• Trash and recycling bins moved to a sheltered spot
• Outdoor furniture stowed or weighed down
• Holiday inflatables deflated and stored
• Loose decorative items brought inside
• Trampolines and other catch-the-wind items secured or disassembled
• Patio umbrellas closed and tied
• Bird feeders stocked if you maintain them
• Pet doors checked, pet outdoor housing insulated and out of wind

The trampoline one is no joke. A 2022 Bexley wind event lifted a homeowner’s trampoline over the privacy fence and into the neighbor’s pool cover. Disassembly or anchoring is fifteen minutes of work.

Check-in plan

A storm is also when relationships matter most. The pre-storm check-in:

• Confirm a check-in plan with elderly or vulnerable family members
• Confirm a plan with the neighbor on each side (you check on me, I check on you)
• Make sure family who live elsewhere know the storm is coming and have your number
• If you have school-age kids, know the snow day notification channels
• If you work from home, know your remote backup plan if power drops

In February 2024 a Circleville neighbor down the road from me lost power and his cell signal at the same time. I walked over at noon the next day because we have a standing check-in agreement. He was fine, but he was 78 years old, alone, and 36 hours into an outage. Having someone walk over to check was the right call.

Common storm-readiness mistakes I see

• Filling the bathtub for water after the storm has started
• Storing the generator in an attached garage
• Running the car in the garage to charge phones (CO buildup)
• No CO detector in the room with the alternate heat source
• Forgetting the well pump runs on electricity
• Underestimating how cold the house gets without heat
• No vehicle fuel until “after the storm”
• Trampoline still up

The generator-in-garage one kills people every year in Ohio. There is no version of running a generator in an attached garage that is safe. Doors open, doors closed, exhaust pointed out, doesn’t matter. Outside, away from windows and doors, every time.

72-hour readiness at a glance

• 12 gallons of water per family of four
• Three days of no-cook food
• Vehicle and generator fuel topped up
• Power outage kit (lights, batteries, sleeping bags, CO detector)
• House prepped against pipe freeze
• Vehicles ready and emergency kit inside
• Snow tools and deicer at every door
• Outdoor property secured
• Check-in plan confirmed with family and neighbors

Want help with snow this winter?

Lawn Harmony Landscaping handles residential snow removal, deicer applications, and post-event property checks across Pickaway, Franklin, Fairfield, Ross, and Fayette counties. Locally owned and operated, licensed and insured, with a 5.0-star Google rating.

Call 614-425-9789 or email Lawnharmonyohio@gmail.com for a free written quote. You can also get a fast residential estimate at quick-mow-quote.emergent.host. Commercial properties can request a walkthrough at /quote/commercial.

Related reading: first snow prep for Ohio homeowners, December lawn checklist for Central Ohio, and salting concrete vs asphalt.

Service area: Circleville, Columbus, Grove City, Bexley, Upper Arlington, Pickerington, Canal Winchester, Groveport, Lancaster, Baltimore, Chillicothe, Washington Court House, and Jeffersonville.