Black Sky Prep
Grid-down survival for cold country
A black sky event is a blackout that lasts weeks or months across a whole region. This is a calm, practical guide to getting your household through one, written for places where winter reaches −30.
Most outages end in hours. A black sky event is the one that does not.
It is the name planners use for a blackout so wide and so long that help cannot simply drive in from the next region. Weeks, maybe months. The power is only the first thing to go. Ask what would stop working in your home if it stayed off tonight:
- Heat. Most gas and oil furnaces need electricity for their fans and controls.
- Water. City pumps and private wells both run on power.
- Food. Fridges, freezers, store tills and card payments.
- Phones. Cell towers run on backup power that does not last forever.
Five things to get right
Lose the power and you lose these, usually in this order. One guide for each, written to be read once and used.
Heat without power
Keeping one room livable, and the shortcuts that put people in hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning.
Water
How much to store, where to put it, and how to make more of it safe to drink.
Backup power
Watts, watt-hours and what a battery or a generator will really run, and for how long.
Food
Meals with no working kitchen, and how long the fridge and freezer can be trusted.
Light and communication
Seeing after dark, keeping a phone alive and getting real news when the feeds stop.
Winter changes the plan
Most survival advice is written for somewhere warm. These guides are for the places where a dead furnace is the first emergency, not the last.
Pipes
When to drain, when to drip, and what to do before the house drops below freezing.
−30 with no heat
How fast a house cools, who is at risk first, and when it is time to leave.
Your car as backup
Warmth, charging and a way out, without turning the garage into a hazard.
Pets in the cold
Food, water and warmth for the animals that depend on you.
Medicines and medical devices
Refrigerated medicines, powered devices and the questions to ask your pharmacy now.
When the toilets stop working
Sanitation and handwashing when the taps and drains can no longer be trusted.
New to this?
Three short reads that set up everything else.
What is a black sky event
What the term means, what could cause one, and what the official warnings do and do not say.
The first 72 hours
What to check, what to shut off and what to leave alone, from the first minute to the third morning.
Apartments and renters
No basement, no generator, no say over the building. A plan that still works.
Gear worth the money
What to look for, what to skip, and a short list of picks for each job. Buy for the plan, not for an idea of survival.
Power stations
Battery power you can use indoors. How to size one for what you need to run.
Indoor-safe propane heaters
Heaters rated for indoor use, and the ventilation and alarm rules that come with them.
Water filters
What each kind removes, what it does not, and which one fits a household.
Long-shelf-life food
Food that keeps for years and that your family will actually eat.
Emergency radios
Weather alerts and news with no internet, on batteries or a hand crank.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Prices change, so every pick links to the current price on Amazon.
Work out your own numbers
Free, and no account needed. The calculator runs in your browser and nothing you type into it is sent anywhere.
How long can you last?
Tell it who lives in your home and what you already have. It works out the water, food and power you need, shows where you run short first, and lists the gear that closes the gap.
- People
- 4
- Days
- 14
- Outside
- −30
The checklists
Three lists: 72 hours, two weeks, three months. Read them on the site, or get the printable PDF and put it on the fridge. Paper works when the phone does not.
Email only, no name. The download opens straight away. I may email you when a guide changes in a way that matters. Privacy.
Read the checklists
When the Lights Go Out
An outage is a problem, not a prophecy.
The full guide this site grew out of: 17 chapters and 10 printable household worksheets, written for homes in the United States and Canada. It covers renters, apartments, households with no car and people who rely on medicines or powered medical devices.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Walter Wolf
I am not a soldier, a paramedic or an engineer. I am a regular person who lives where winter reaches −30 (that is −22 °F) and who would rather be ready than worried.
Everything here is checked against official guidance from the United States and Canada, and I say so when the agencies disagree or when I do not know. Where a mistake could hurt someone, like carbon monoxide, food safety or medicines, the guide tells you who to ask instead of guessing.