Winter is coming, are you ready?

If last week’s windstorm wasn’t a hint, perhaps the termination dust on the mountains is. Or, waking up like I did Sept. 8 to find freezing temperatures and my car windows covered in frost. The clues are all there; winter is coming. This year it seems mighty early, too.

Here is the first of a short series of columns to help and inform about winter preparations. Are you prepared for its arrival?

For those of you new to Alaska, you are in for a treat — or a hard time. It depends on whether or not you take some simple steps. First off, winters here in the Valley and across this state are long, wild and harsh. Just in the Valley alone we get wracked by windstorms like those last week that hit the Anchorage and Valley regions way too early.

Temperatures can plunge to as much as 30 below zero. Snow can begin falling and sticking anytime from mid-September on. The real kicker is that this can go on until May. No fooling.

I will tell you what I do to prepare for the arrival of what I like to call the Winter Queen. If you haven’t started, best to begin soon, as the Winter Queen is harsh and unforgiving.

I begin by planting reflector poles along the edges of our driveway. Do this now before the ground freezes. They are about 3 feet tall with a round, two-sided red reflector on top. Get a bunch. Set aside a few for later when the snowdrifts become high or when some over-enthusiastic idiot with a snowplow goes ape and plows them under.

Time to bring in all your outdoor hoses. Unhook them, drain them and store them.

Then I remove the screens from windows and reseat the windows on their rails for a good seal. With temperature extremes like we get here, the frigid air will find every crack and crevice in your home. Making sure your windows and doors seal tightly also is a great way to save on home heating costs during Alaska’s relentless winters.

Check your detectors. Sometimes all that airtight stuff can go just little too far and the house can’t breathe properly, so check your CO2 detector. Carbon dioxide buildup can be lethal. The same holds true for smoke detectors and gas detectors, too. Test the alarm functions and replace batteries and alarms as needed.

Shut off the outdoor water spigots under the house, but as much as I hate entering the cobweb-filled crawl space to shut off valves. I hate burst pipes even more.

If you have a fireplace or woodstove, have the chimney or its stovepipe cleaned by a professional. Winters here see far too many fires caused by overheated chimneys and pipes. Some have been fatal in recent years. Remember, too, to empty your woodstove’s ash pan in a safe area far away from your house or other things that hot embers could ignite.

If you have a snowblower or ATV plow or truck, take the time while it is still warm to pull it out and do what we in the Army called “preventive maintenance checks and services.” Take it out, check it out and fire it up just to make sure everything is up to speed. Anything that needs mending is harder at 9 below.

Check your emergency gear. You know the stuff one uses in a power outage. Being from New England we have plenty of stuff. Go through a couple of hurricanes and nor’easters and you quickly learn to be prepared. Just like over there, this region gets hit a lot with power outages during the winter windstorms and snowstorms. Some last far longer than any hurricane. Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management website — ready.alaska.gov — has lots of information to help prepare for emergencies.

Jeepers, I have written a small book and I still have more to say. I think I will leave off for now. More to come later as the season drives on. Stay safe and enjoy autumn, Alaska at its most colorful.

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.