Are You Ready For The Powerful Winter Storm Heading to New York?

The last few days in Western New York have been pretty interesting when it comes to weather. While it's been a relatively mild winter season so far, with Buffalo being far behind its normal average of snowfall, that doesn't mean there hasn't been any weather activity.

Just a few days ago, we had a terrible windstorm blow through for a few days that knocked out power to more than 100,000 New Yorkers across the state and left some damage in several areas. Now, reports from the National Weather Service are warning about a powerful winter storm that is on the way to the area.

Since we haven't really had much of a winter, especially when compared to last year, some folks might be getting a little complacent about making sure their weather preparations are set. Don't get caught without the necessary things you need to ride out a storm if you get stuck in the house; with officials around the area sounding the alarm, it's beyond time to make sure winter doesn't take you by surprise.

If there is anything we learned from the last winter season, it's quite possible that we can be stuck in the house for a few days and that it's up to us to be prepared and to have a plan if the weather gets really bad.

Get Prepared For Winter Storms Now

We know that snow is going to hit Western New York at some point, and there are quite a few things that you can take right now to make sure you're ready no matter what comes. To make sure you don't get caught unprepared, there are several things that you should consider doing now to make sure that you can survive for the next several days should you lose the ability to travel and get out to stores.

I finally did my winter prep between Christmas and New Year's Eve; if you're a procrastinator like I am, then it's time to snap out of it. It's not too late, but you have to act fast. So before you run out to Wegmans or Tops to clear the shelves of all the bottled water and toilet paper, take just a few minutes to make a plan. But don't take too long because time is running out before we may have a few feet of snow on the ground.

If you want to take a deeper dive into making sure you're ready for an emergency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security produces a good list of additional things you can do to make sure you're ready if the stuff hits the fan. You can check that out here on the READY government site.