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Storms can be treacherous during the cold winter season. Every climate is different, of course. The residents of some locales have to deal with heavy blizzards that bury their homes in snow, while others must contend with wind, sleet, hail, or insidious layers of nearly invisible ice that form over the roads. This kind of weather often results in power outages, as well as the loss of heat and other necessary amenities. These situations are uncomfortable and inconvenient at best, but they can be downright dangerous in extreme circumstances. 

Worst of all, when the roads are out, it can be difficult to gather necessary supplies. So, you don’t want to wait until you’re in the middle of a storm to think about what you need in order to weather it. Shelf-stable foods, bottled water, and a healthy supply of blankets and hot cocoa are a given, but there are a few power tools that you might want to have on hand as well.

The lithium-ion battery systems used by most modern cordless power tool manufacturers can be a lifesaver during these storms. They’re compact, hold a pretty decent amount of power, and can be used with a wide array of different products. Having a decent supply of fully charged batteries–and the right tools to use them in–can help you to keep your home lit, warm, safe, and accessible. It doesn’t matter which brand of power tool you choose to stock in your garage since most of these items should be readily available from all of the best major power tool brands. All you need is a few essential products to help get you through to spring.

Cordless lighting is one of the most essential things to have on hand during the power outages that commonly occur during winter storms. Stumbling around in the dark is definitely less than ideal, and more than a little dangerous. Even if you have a generator or a power bank to power your corded lights, you’ll still want something portable on hand to help you get around the house while you’re setting everything up.

Just about every power tool company out there makes some kind of cordless work light, handheld light, or area light (often all three) that are powered by the manufacturer’s proprietary battery systems. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with packing a few disposable D batteries into a classic electric lantern, but these power tool versions tend to be brighter and offer greater longevity, especially when paired with a high-capacity battery. They also don’t require you to root through your junk drawer in the dark, collecting scattered batteries, only to end up one cell short.

There are a lot of good models available from major brands. Makita, Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Ryobi all boast a wide range of lighting accessories at various price points and in a wide range of form factors. A good single-beam handheld flashlight like the DeWalt 20V Max LED Work Light is good to have for when you’re exploring the house or the property outside. You might also want a floodlight or a 360-degree area light like the Ryobi One+ Cordless Lantern Light to illuminate a room where you and your family can play a few hands of Rummy and wait out the storm. When it comes to lights, it’s good to take a “the-more-the-better” approach.

Heavy ice, wet snow, and high wind speeds are all common occurrences during winter storms. One of the unfortunate side effects of these meteorological phenomena is that large tree limbs can snap and fall. They can block your driveway, land in your yard, or even fall on your house. There are a number of ways that these broken lengths of wood can be inconvenient or even dangerous, so it’s good to have a reliable method of getting rid of them. Some branches might be easy enough to scoop up and toss in your yard waste bin, but others are too big and heavy to move in a single piece.

A reciprocating saw is a good choice for trimming and breaking down smaller limbs, and even an unpowered hacksaw might do in a pinch, but nothing clears fallen trees and big limbs like a chainsaw. Gas-powered models are still considered king by a lot of users. They typically offer a lot more power, which is good for quickly and efficiently breaking down large logs and branches without the blade losing speed or getting stuck. That said, there have been a lot of strides made in the battery-powered chainsaw market in recent years. These also have the added benefit of needing a lot less maintenance and not requiring you to keep a canister of gasoline on hand at all times. 

But whether you choose battery-powered or gas, it’s definitely worth making sure that you get a chainsaw from a reputable major brand. Stihl and Husqvarna are often counted as the best specialty brands for gas-powered units. However, for those who are already committed to a dedicated battery system from a more general-purpose power tool brand might like something like the Makita 18V LXT 14-inch Chainsaw or the Milwaukee M18 Fuel 16-inch Chainsaw.

Rocky’s Ace Hardware

If you live in an area that gets a lot of snowfall, then you’re going to need a method for getting it off your drive and walkways from time to time. This is true of the clean, white snow that lands on your property, as well as that lovely berm of dirty street snow the city plow left at the end of your driveway. You can always get out there with a snow shovel and toss it into the yard the way your grandpa did back in the day, but why bother when there are tools that can help save you some time and lower back pain?

A two-stage snow blower is a pretty clever tool. It uses a serrated steel auger to break up and gather snow into its gullet. It then launches the churned up and powderized snow out of a chute on top, which you can angle in order to direct where you’re throwing it. The whole thing is on wheels too, so you just need to push it across the area that you need to clear the same way that you would with a mower. Not only is this convenient, but the auger can break up large chunks of snow that have frozen together, making the snow that you move lighter, fluffier, and easier to manage.

Toro and Cub Cadet are often considered to be two of the best major snow blower brands on the market. Most snow blowers are either gas-powered or corded electric, but there are a handful of battery powered options out there. Ego is well-regarded for this, with products like the Ego Power+ 24-inch Self-Propelled 2-Stage Electric Snow Blower regularly receiving high scores in customer reviews.

Sub-freezing temperatures can affect mechanical locks, pipes, and even chemical bonds, so you might want to keep a cordless heat gun on hand. You can use it to thaw stuck locks, whether on your front door, a padlock to a shed, or a car door. You’ll want to be careful when you’re doing this, however, as the heat can melt plastic and damage paint, so you’ll only want to do it in increments of 20 to 30 seconds until the lock or latch comes unstuck. The same goes for thawing pipes. There are a few things you need to know before using a heat gun to unfreeze pipes in order to do it safely. Like that nearby materials can be flammable or otherwise damaged by the heat, that you should drain your faucets as much as possible first, and that you want to apply the heat evenly across the whole pipe and not just focus on one area.

Another thing you might want to consider is that you may need to make some emergency temporary repairs. Heavy snow and ice can crack your roof, leading to leaks, while trees, and branches can damage roofs or break windows. In these instances, you may wish to tape a tarp over the affected area to prevent leaks and heat loss. 

Only, many adhesives and tapes, such as Duct Tape or Gorilla Tape, won’t stick in extreme cold. You can use a heat gun to warm up the adhesive and the area that you plan to affix it. This allows the thermal bond to set normally, so that you can use the tape as intended. The DeWalt 20V Max Heat Gun, the Craftsman V20 Cordless Heat Gun, and the Bosch 18V Heat Gun all come highly recommended.

So now we’ve pretty solidly established that there are a lot of battery-powered tools out there you’ll want to have on-hand during a winter storm. That said, there are also a lot of things you might want that require an AC plug. There are plenty of generators and power stations on the market that can keep many of your basic electronics up and running and help you survive a power outage, but they tend to be expensive and not everyone is looking to invest hundreds of dollars for something that only comes up once or twice a year. Those who are already invested in a collection of power tools might be wondering if there’s a way to convert the energy stored inside those batteries into something that you can use to charge your phone or power a lamp. Fortunately, many power tool companies have started making battery power inverters.

Ryobi has a 40V power inverter that can turn your leaf blower battery into a portable generator. Ridgid and Craftsman make similar products. Even Harbor Freight’s Bauer brand has a 20V inverter that you can get for just $50. There are larger versions of these products available as well, though these tend to be priced closer to what you might expect to pay for a regular power station. Milwauke has a 3,600W/1,800W Power Supply that can house four M18 batteries of any capacity, Kobalt has the K40 1,800W Portable Power Station, and DeWalt sells a four port 1,800W Portable Power Station and Simultaneous Battery Charger. These are particularly useful, because they allow you to simply grab the charging dock that already has your batteries plugged into it and simply plug other devices into the side to draw power back out of the attached batteries.

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I’ve been using power tools for decades and I’ve lived in several areas that suffered severe storms in winter. In composing this piece, I drew on that experience to choose products that I believe would be useful for homeowners to have on hand in preparation for winter storms. I started by examining the product catelogues of several major brands in order to see what kinds of tools were available. It examined the recommended supplies suggested by the National Weather Service and FEMA, looking to see if any of the suggested materials were commonly available from power tool companies. 

I also examined forums where homeowners shared their experiences with winter storms and the tools that were helpful for them. I then composed a list of tools, ensuring that different models were available from a wide range of brands, taking the time to break down what kinds of situations they might be useful for during a winter storm so that readers could consider whether it would be useful for their individual circumstances.