Why Ice Storm Outages Last So Long, From a Lineman Who Works Them

As a lineman, I'd put ice storms near the top of the list for outages. They don't look like much on TV next to a hurricane. They still bring down poles, tree limbs, and primary lines, and crews can't fix what they can't safely reach.

I'm Mike. I've been a union lineman in New Jersey for 22+ years, and ice and wet snow are ordinary work here. I've also worked mutual aid in multiple states and seen what Mother Nature does when restoration stretches into days. This is the winter plan I'd want for a house that may sit cold and dark for more than one night.

Why ice keeps the power off

Rain and wet snow coat the trees and freeze onto every branch. All that added weight either snaps limbs or brings whole trees down, and they take the power lines with them. So the trees cause the outage, and a lot of the time tree crews have to clear the damage before we can even start restoring power. That's why ice outages tend to run longer than a typical windstorm.

In January 2024, an ice storm in the Pacific Northwest left large numbers of customers without power for days. In Springfield, Oregon, the local utility put out a boil water notice after outages caused the water system to lose pressure. Winter ice is a multi-day power and water problem, not a candle night. The Northeast sees the same kind of mess on smaller storms that never make the national news. Plan for days, and be pleasantly surprised if it's shorter.

The part of your house we can't fix

Here's one homeowners don't expect. If a falling tree rips the service drop off the house at the service hook, the damage can run from the weatherhead down to the meter. That part belongs to you, not the utility.

We'll do everything we can to get you back on. But if your weatherhead, service mast, or meter base is damaged and it isn't safe to re-energize, an electrician has to repair it first. We won't put power back into equipment that could hurt somebody. If you see your service wire pulled loose or the mast bent after an ice storm, call an electrician right away so you're ready when the crew gets to you.

Five decisions before the glaze

1. Assume multi-day, not a two-hour blip.

2. Pick one warm room to defend. Close the doors, layer up people and pets, and don't try to heat the whole empty house on backup gear.

3. Power: fridge and freezer, medical devices, phones and a radio. Run the numbers in the power station runtime calculator.

4. Heat: indoor-rated heat only, or electric heat your battery or generator can actually carry.

5. Carbon monoxide: working CO alarms on every level before the storm. Generator outdoors, at least 20 feet from windows, doors, and vents, per the CDC and Ready.gov. Never in a garage.

Power, heat, and CO fail together in ice weather, so plan them together.

Use the week before

Ice usually shows up in the forecast days ahead, so the night before should be a check, not a shopping trip.

When ice first shows up in the forecast, check your CO and smoke alarms and replace the batteries. Count water. The agency floor is 1 gallon per person per day, and I like closer to 2 when people are working hard. The water storage calculator does the count. Count food your house will actually eat without an oven, and refill any prescription that would run out in a week.

Two days out, fill the generator fuel cans and store them legally, away from the house. Charge every power station, power bank, and phone. Clear the generator pad and the path to it. Ice on a path is how people get hurt hauling fuel.

The night before the glaze, agree on the warm room and who sleeps where. Turn the fridge and freezer to their coldest settings and keep the doors shut once the power goes. Know where your water shutoff is and label it. Park vehicles where falling limbs are less likely to hit them.

How my house is set up

At my house, an EcoFlow DELTA 3 Ultra stays indoors for the essentials: the internet and a few electronics. The freezers and the furnace run off a gas generator we keep outdoors. Most gas furnaces still need electricity to run, so no power can mean no furnace even with gas in the line. At our cabin in Pennsylvania, the well is on backup power and we collect rainwater, so water doesn't depend on the grid coming back.

A power station keeps the essentials running. It does not power a whole home. Plan in watt-hours, not brochure "days." For longer outages I wrote up multi-day battery backup, and the generator vs power station piece covers which tool does which job.

If a generator feeds your house wiring, the main breaker has to be open first. Otherwise its power goes back out through the service drop to the transformer and onto the lines, where it can hurt the lineman working to get you back on. Use an electrician-installed transfer switch or interlock. Never backfeed through a dryer outlet.

In ice, keep the generator pad clear of ice falling off the roof edge, point the exhaust away, hold the 20 feet, and never use the garage. Refuel only after it cools down. The full placement rules are in how far a generator should be from the house.

Heat and carbon monoxide

Start with layers and sleeping bags, and close off the rooms you aren't using. If you use a propane or kerosene heater, it has to be rated for indoor use and run exactly the way the manual says. Patio, mushroom, and construction heaters are not house heaters. Don't heat with the gas oven or stovetop.

Burning propane makes water vapor along with heat, so a heater running all day in a closed room can fog the windows. Keep the ventilation the manual calls for and wipe up condensation so it doesn't turn into mold. I went deeper on all of this in indoor propane heater safety in a power outage.

Low-oxygen sensors and tip-over switches help. They don't make CO impossible. Keep CO alarms on every level, with battery backup, tested. Don't seal a room airtight and then burn fuel in it. If anyone gets a headache, dizziness, nausea, or flu-like symptoms that ease outdoors, treat it as CO: get out, get fresh air, and call 911.

Once the power goes

Stay off the roads unless it's an emergency. Crews need them. Stay far away from any wire on the ground, and anything touching one. Treat every downed line as live, and call 911 and your utility. Report the outage once, then save your phone battery. Move everyone into the warm room before the house gets cold, not after. Check on neighbors who live alone, especially the older ones.

And buy the fuel and batteries before the roads turn to glass.

Mike Sasarak is a union electrical lineman in New Jersey with 22+ years on the job. He sees how power actually fails, and what families need when it does, on ordinary workdays, not just big name disasters.

The full ice storm plan, with the free runtime, water, and food calculators, is on Prepper Evolution.