A winter emergency kit could save your life on a frigid cold night
MINNEAPOLIS — When it's this cold, you don't want to be stuck on the side of the road without a winter emergency kit in your car.
Thankfully, it's a quick and easy process and hopefully, you'll only have to do this once and forget about it.
One thing the State Patrol is worried about with the timing of this storm is the fact that it's a three-day weekend for a lot of people with MLK Day on Monday. That's why they're asking anyone who made plans for traveling this three-day weekend to ask yourselves, "do I really need to be on the roads in this weather?"
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If so, AAA says a good rule of thumb is the farther you're going to travel, the more you need to pack in your emergency car kit.
So if you're just commuting around the metro, where help is likely to arrive sooner than later, you can keep that kit to essential items. A warm coat, hat, gloves, etc. But if you're traveling into more rural areas where you could be stuck for a while, that's where you really want to pack a kit. Flashlight and flares, granola bars, and a shovel.
Jumper cables might be the most important thing you pack in your car kit this winter. AAA said dead car batteries are the number one call for service they get during these types of weather events.
Helpful list: Winter emergency kit for vehicles
Now if your car does get stuck on the side of the road, the state patrol says it's critical to stay inside your vehicle. With some whiteout conditions in parts of Minnesota and drifting snow expected in the coming days, they say the safest thing you can do if you're stuck is to try and stay warm inside your vehicle and wait for help to arrive.