Iowa Winter Storms: The Carbon Monoxide Risk Is Higher Than the Cold

Iowa's winter storm risk is rated high, and the specific hazard is ice rather than snow. I want to be clear about that, because most people picture a foot of powder and a snow day off. Ice accumulation brings down power lines and trees, producing widespread outages, and that is the version of winter that actually hurts us here.

That cascades in ways that surprise people who have never lived through one. Power outages disable heating systems, sump pumps, and well pumps, which means frozen pipes and basement flooding on top of the cold. My husband Bryon and I have watched a basement sump sit useless while the power was out, and I can tell you that water in the basement is not a problem you can wait out politely.

The part that gets people hurt is what they do next.

Carbon Monoxide Is the Leading Risk

When the power fails, people reach for alternative heat. I know this sounds obvious when you read it on a calm screen in October, but in the moment, with the house at fifty degrees and the kids asking when it will warm up, people do exactly the wrong thing.

Only use generators and grills outdoors, away from windows. Never heat your home with a gas stovetop or oven. Those two sentences are the entire post, honestly, but I am going to keep going because people still do not listen.

Carbon monoxide poisoning from improvised heating injures and kills more people in winter storms than exposure does. That is the line I keep coming back to. It is an invisible hazard people create themselves trying to solve a visible problem, and no amount of willpower or good intentions makes it safer.

The corollary: install and test smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors with battery backups before winter. A detector that needs mains power is useless during an outage, which is precisely when it's needed, and I will be the first to admit I have absolutely let ours sit untested until the first cold snap reminded me.

What to Have Ready Beforehand

Here is my honest take on preparation: it is not exciting, it is not cheap, and it is entirely worth it. Most of it is work done in advance rather than purchases, which is annoying but true.

**Insulate and seal.** Add insulation in attics, walls and crawlspaces to reduce heat loss. Caulk and weatherstrip around windows and doors to cut drafts.

**Protect pipes.** Insulate water pipes in unheated areas. During extreme cold, let faucets drip slowly to keep water moving. Know how to shut off the main water valve before you need to, not while you are standing in a wet basement in the dark.

**Clear gutters and downspouts** before winter so meltwater drains properly.

**Service the heating system, chimney, and carbon monoxide detectors** before the season. Every year I tell myself we will do this in September, and every year it happens the week the first freeze warning hits.

**Stock supplies for at least three days** without power, accounting for each person's specific needs including medication, and not forgetting pets. I keep saying I will trim this list and I never do, because the one year you skip the batteries is the one year you need them.

**Extra batteries** for radios and flashlights.

**A car kit** as well: jumper cables, sand, a flashlight, warm clothes, blankets, bottled water, snacks, and a full gas tank. I would rather all of it sit there unused than find out I needed it.

If a Pipe Freezes

Keep the faucet open to relieve pressure. Apply heat to the frozen section with a hair dryer, heating pad, or space heater — never an open flame. This is one of those pieces of advice I take personally, because a freeze-drying business is built on water, and I have spent more time than I can count thinking about pipes and the exact temperature at which things go wrong.

The open-flame prohibition is another version of the same theme: the shortcut that seems faster is the one that starts the fire.

Recognizing Frostbite and Hypothermia

These have different presentations and different responses, and I want my own kids to know them before they ever need to.

**Frostbite** — go to a warm room. Soak in warm water. Use body heat to warm. Do not massage the area or use a heating pad.

**Hypothermia** is an unusually low body temperature, and below 95°F is an emergency. Signs are shivering, exhaustion, confusion, fumbling hands, memory loss, slurred speech, and drowsiness. Response: get to a warm room, warm the center of the body first — chest, neck, head and groin — and keep the person dry and wrapped including head and neck.

The confusion and fumbling-hands signs are the ones to watch for in someone else, because the affected person usually cannot identify them, and if someone is acting strange in the cold, treat it as the emergency it is.

Stay Indoors, But Watch the Heating

The instruction is to stay indoors and monitor the weather, listening to a radio or TV for current information. Watching the heating is not optional.

If you're using a fireplace, wood stove, or other combustion heater, it must be properly vented to the outside. Use battery-powered flashlights or lanterns rather than candles; if candles are used, never leave them unattended. A house that has already lost power is not the house where you want an open flame near the kids.

And if you lose power and heat with no backup option, the guidance is to go to a designated public shelter. That is not a failure — it is the correct move, and it is far safer than improvising. I would go, and I would tell my neighbors to go too.

Why This Matters for Shelf-Stable Food

There is a specific reason freeze-dried food belongs in a winter storm plan rather than just a general emergency plan, and it is the reason we built this company.

When the power goes out, your refrigerator and freezer become unreliable on a clock you don't control. A chest freezer full of food is a countdown, not a supply. Anything requiring cooking is compromised if you're avoiding the stovetop for carbon monoxide reasons and the range is electric.

Food you can eat straight from the bag, with no heat, no water, and no cooking, is the category that stays useful in exactly the conditions where other food fails. That is not a marketing claim — it is the practical gap that shelf-stable snacks fill in an Iowa winter, and it is why they earn a place in the kit next to the batteries and the detector.

Prepare now, while the lights are on and it is easy to think about. Future you, standing in a cold house, will be very glad you did.

Stay curious. Stay crunchy. Stay cosmic.

— Sara Jane Shelvock, CEO, Torus Coffee Company LLC