While snow storms can certainly be fun (think snowmen and cross country skiing), they can be dangerous (think power outages and car crashes), and therefore local governments should ensure that there is a focus on storm preparedness in their communities to keep residents safe. Listed below are some resources that can help you prepare, mitigate, and respond to winter storms in your community:

How Do You Get Ready for the Perils of Winter Weather? 

This Public Management (PM) magazine resource includes short responses from members on how they get ready to deal with winter weather and the variety of issues that are not always what you think about when dealing with it. 

5 Keys to Public Safety in Storms

This resource is from 2014 and references a specific case in the Buffalo, New York, area; however, the overall advice is worth thinking about before the next storm hits your area. 

Storm + Social Media = Community Pride?

A blog post from Life, Well Run shows how social media can help keep residents informed during a snowstorm as well as bring pride to a community.

City of Brooklyn Park, MN Technology Helps Track Frozen Pipes

An article from 2017 details how Brooklyn Park has used technology and diligent staff work to help reduce the problems caused by frozen pipes. 

Leading Edge Research: Leadership Before, During, and After a Crisis

Crises can happen anytime, anywhere. Prepare your community for disaster with this ICMA report which captures the ideas, feelings, and stories of the professional managers who were involved in different crises. By analyzing their leadership skills and techniques, professional managers can adopt promising practices in crisis leadership.

Leading Edge Research: Disaster Recovery Essentials

Important takeaways from managers’ experiences in eight recovery topics. Each includes a set of related questions to help other managers begin to assess and improve their own capacity to lead a community through recovery.

And be sure to check out two popular ICMA bestsellers: Emergency Management: Principles and Practice for Local Government, 2nd Edition and Managing Fire and Emergency Services. These comprehensive textbooks provide state-of-the-practice resources regarding local government emergency management organization, policy, and implementation.