According to Ready.gov, the Federal Emergency Management’s resource site, “Winter storms create a higher risk of car accidents, hypothermia, frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning, and heart attacks from overexertion. Winter storms including blizzards can bring extreme cold, freezing rain, snow, ice, and high winds.”  Because Kentuckians experience winter weather in various forms each year, it is important to prepare them for these events. 

As a result of winter weather preparedness needs, Kayla Watts, County Agent on Special Assignment for Community Recovery and Resiliency and Kristi Shive, Warren County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent hosted a winter weather preparedness series on the televised and online program, The Farm and Home Show. The 3-part series which discussed how to prepare your home, family, pets, and farm for winter weather, also included information on how to obtain credible winter weather information. 

The Farm and Home Show, which is a part of the WBKO network encompasses sixteen south Central Kentucky counties, while the online viewership is open to all with internet access. The show airs each weekday, which allowed for all three sessions of this series to air in the same week. The average viewership of this Farm and Home Show series was 90,000 households. In total, an estimated 15,000 viewers were reached per episode in this 3-part series with that number growing each time the episodes are viewed online. 

Winter weather can create chaos across the Commonwealth. It is important to help citizens be winter weather ready to prevent further challenges during such disaster events. The Farm and Home Show Winter Weather Preparedness Series allowed agents to share preparedness tips with viewers across South Central Kentucky and the state.