Cold weather is flowing in! While we at MVP are excited and love the holidays, the cold weather poses multiple risks in our daily lives, including our health, transportation, damaging winter storms, and more. Oklahoma can also be a bit icy.
We’ve put together a few ways to prepare for the chilly weather coming in.
Prepare your home
- Clear your home’s gutters to promote proper water damage.
- Clear vents and chimneys to prevent fires and carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Have your heating system serviced to keep your home warm.
- Trim broken or dangling branches to prevent property damage during winter storms.
- Make sure you go over your home insurance plan.
- A safe home inspection also never hurt anyone!
Prepare your car
- Make sure you have an ice scraper and gloves in your car during the winter to scrape snow and ice from windows.
- Make sure your vehicle’s heater is working to keep warm and melt any snow or ice.
- Make sure your insurance is up-to-date and you know your policy.
- Always drive cautiously. If you don’t think you can drive somewhere, please don’t attempt it.
- If possible, keep a cell phone charger in your vehicle any time you drive.
- Try and fill your car up before traveling in case you run into unexpected winter storms.
Create a checklist
- Create a grocery list and go shopping before the winter weather hits, that way you won’t have to risk going out in bad weather.
- As mentioned before, make sure your home and car are prepared for bad weather.
- Make sure you have salt to melt any ice on your driveway and walkway.
- Having a shovel is great to have for heavy snowstorms to remove snow from your driveway.
Update your winter safety kit
Here are items that we think are great to include in a safety kit for winter:
- Flashlights and batteries
- Water
- Blanket
- Portable cell phone charger
- First aid items, such as bandaids and Tylenol
- Protein bars
Of course, safety kits will vary from household to household, and you can always add more items as needed. This list is a great way to get you started on your own safety kit.
Some of this preparation may seem like overkill, but it’s still a good idea. Oklahoma always has unexpected, crazy winter weather, and you can never be too prepared. Our goal is to make sure everyone is safe during the cold season.