Winter Hazards Awareness Week is Nov. 8-14, and MSP wants the kits packed now

LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proclaimed Nov. 8-14 as Winter Hazards Awareness Week, and the Michigan State Police want the home and car kits done before the first real storm.

Capt. Kevin Sweeney, deputy state director of Emergency Management and commander of the MSP Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division, said Michigan winters are unpredictable. “In the last year alone, we’ve seen up to four feet of snow fall in a single event,” he said in the Nov. 6 release. “Even a routine winter storm system can create dangerous conditions.” The proclamation itself, posted for Nov. 8, says winter brings icy roads, extreme cold, power outages, and injuries tied to snow removal, and it tells drivers to check tire tread, washer fluid, antifreeze, belts, hoses, the battery, and coolant.

The house list

The MSP list says to weather-strip, caulk, and insulate walls, doors, and windows, and to insulate water lines on exterior walls. It says to lock a propane rate now and to have a backup heat plan, naming a generator, a wood stove, or a fireplace. A professional should inspect the gas or oil furnace, and the air filter should be replaced. Fireplaces and chimneys should be inspected. The release says to ask a local fire department for a referral. Battery carbon monoxide detectors go near sleeping areas, because the risk rises when furnaces run and when people use portable generators in outages. Gutters should be cleaned so ice dams do not form, and storm drains should be cleared so basements do not flood. The home kit on the release is water, food that will keep, a first-aid kit, extra batteries, a hand-crank or battery radio, light, flashlights, blankets, and warm clothes.

The car, and the generator rule

For the vehicle, the release says to service the radiator, replace wipers, use winter washer fluid, replace worn tires, check pressure, and have brakes, brake fluid, oil, the battery, the heater, and the exhaust inspected. The car kit is batteries, a radio, a flashlight, a scraper, jumper cables, a mobile charger, a shovel, blankets, first aid, food, and bottled water. The department’s winter social-media page, separate from the news release, says portable generators make carbon monoxide and should run outdoors at least 25 feet from the house, with the exhaust pointed away from doors, windows, and vents. That page also says nearly 34,000 winter-weather crashes were recorded in Michigan in the 2024-25 season, 53 of them deadly. Those two figures are on the social page, not in the Nov. 6 news release, so they are labeled that way. The capitol photograph does not show a storm.

Sources:
Michigan State Police, Winter Hazards Awareness Week release, Nov. 6, 2026, https://www.michigan.gov/mspnewsroom/news-releases/2026/11/06/msp-encourage-michiganders-to-make-winter-safety-a-priority-during-winter-hazards-awareness-week
Governor’s proclamation, Nov. 8-14, 2026, https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/proclamations/2026/11/08/november-8-14-2026-winter-hazards-awareness-week
MIReady winter social posts (generator distance, 2024-25 crash figures), https://www.michigan.gov/miready/plan-ahead/winter-hazards-awareness/social-media-posts-and-graphics
Photo: w_lemay, “Dome, Michigan State Capitol, Capitol Avenue, Lansing, MI.jpg”, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADome%2C_Michigan_State_Capitol%2C_Capitol_Avenue%2C_Lansing%2C_MI.jpg

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Tags: Lansing · Michigan State Police · Winter · MIReady · Weather