Prepping in Chicago
Chicago's emergencies are mostly about temperature. Your plan needs to keep people warm through a winter outage and cool through a summer one.
- Extreme cold
- Heat waves
- Severe storms
Sign up today
The official Chicago alert and lookup tools. Each takes a few minutes and works even if you do nothing else on this page.
- NotifyChicagoSign up for NotifyChicago
The city's free alerts by text and email. Create an account and pick the alert types you want.
- 311Office of Emergency Management
Call 311 to find the nearest warming or cooling center during extreme weather.
Links checked October 2026. Wireless Emergency Alerts reach most phones automatically; these add local detail.
What can go wrong in Chicago
- Extreme cold
- Wind chills far below zero make a heating failure dangerous within hours, and frozen pipes burst.
- Heat waves
- In July 1995, a heat wave killed more than 700 Chicagoans, many of them older people alone in apartments.
- Severe storms and tornadoes
- Derechos and tornadoes hit the region, and storms regularly knock out power.
- Urban flooding
- Heavy rain backs sewers up into basements and floods viaducts.
What that means for your plan
For winter, plan to keep people warm, not the whole apartment. Pick one room, close it off, and use cold-rated sleeping bags and wool layers. Never heat with a gas oven or grill.
For summer, have a fan you can run from a power station, cooling towels and a way to get to a cooling center. The 1995 heat wave showed how deadly isolation is, so check on older neighbors.
Keep pipes from freezing: let faucets on outside walls drip, open cabinet doors under sinks, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher even when you're away.
Do these first, in this order
- Warmth without power
Cold-rated sleeping bags for everyone, plus hats and wool layers.
Lighting and staying warm guide - Battery CO alarm
Outage heating mistakes cause carbon monoxide poisonings every winter.
Power stations and generators guide - NotifyChicago
Official alerts on storms, heat and cold.
Radios and communication guide - Power station
Runs a fan in summer, an electric blanket in winter, and phones year-round.
Power stations and generators guide - Two weeks of water
Burst pipes and main breaks happen in deep freezes.
Water storage and filters guide - First-aid kit
Cover cold injuries, heat illness and storm cleanup cuts.
First aid and medical guide
Questions
Where can I warm up during a cold emergency in Chicago?
Call 311 for the nearest warming center. The city opens warming centers during extreme cold.
How do I get emergency alerts in Chicago?
Sign up for NotifyChicago at notifychicago.org. Choose the alert types you want and confirm with the activation email.
How do I keep pipes from freezing?
Let faucets on outside walls drip, open cabinet doors under sinks to let warm air in, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher, even if you're away.
How ready is your Chicago home?
The quiz weights every item for city apartment risks and shows your top gaps. About 3 minutes, no sign-up.