Before the First Winter Storm: Run a 45-Minute Delayed-Opening Decision Drill

Winter weather rarely creates a single operational problem. A delayed opening can affect staffing, transportation, public access, contractors, deliveries, remote-work capacity and services that cannot simply pause. The best time to test those decisions is before the forecast becomes urgent.

This 45-minute discussion drill gives an organization a practical way to examine who makes the call, what information they use and how essential services continue. It is not a test of meteorology. It is a test of decision authority, coordination and communication.

Start with a clear, realistic scenario

Give participants a short situation update: a winter storm watch has been issued, precipitation is expected before the morning commute and conditions may vary across the service area. Avoid inventing a universal snowfall threshold. The National Weather Service explains that winter-weather alert criteria are set locally, so the same conditions may lead to different products in different regions.

Ask participants to use the sources they would rely on in a real event: the local NWS forecast office, state or local transportation information, public-safety partners and internal staffing reports. Forecasts should be treated as forecasts, not confirmed impacts.

Invite the people who actually influence the decision

Keep the group small enough to work. Include the executive or duty officer with closure authority, emergency management, operations, facilities, human resources, communications, information technology and a representative for any essential public-facing service. If transportation, contracted staffing or childcare affects attendance, include the person who manages that dependency.

Before the drill starts, write down one question: Who has final authority to delay opening, close a facility or shift to remote operations? If the answer is unclear, the drill has already identified an important corrective action.

Run the drill in four timed rounds

1. Trigger review — 10 minutes. What information would cause leaders to move from monitoring to action? Identify the local warning products, road information, facility conditions and staffing indicators that matter. Assign one role to assemble the decision brief and one to confirm the time of the next update.
2. Essential services — 10 minutes. List the functions that must continue during a delayed opening. For each, identify the minimum staffing, technology, facility access and vendor support required. FEMA continuity guidance emphasizes prioritizing essential functions when resources are constrained while allowing less-critical work to be delayed.
3. Notification — 10 minutes. Draft the first internal and external messages. Decide who approves them and which channels will be used. Include employees without remote access, contractors, customers, partner agencies and people who need accessible communications. State what is known, what decision has been made and when the next update will arrive.
4. Escalation — 10 minutes. Add one complication: the storm arrives earlier than forecast, a key facility loses heat, a transit service suspends routes or the notification platform is unavailable. Ask whether the original decision still works and who can change it.

Capture decisions, not just discussion

Use the final five minutes to record a short improvement list. Each item should name an owner and a completion date. Useful actions may include documenting closure authority, adding an alternate notification channel, updating an employee contact roster, confirming remote-access capacity or creating a one-page decision brief template.

Do not measure success by whether everyone agrees on the same opening time. Measure whether the organization can obtain reliable information, make an authorized decision, preserve essential functions and communicate that decision before people begin traveling.

Turn the drill into a repeatable exercise

Repeat the drill with a different complication later in the season. A short exercise is more valuable when it produces one or two completed improvements and is run again. If you want a structured starting point for objectives, scenario development and facilitation, the Response Depot Tabletop Exercise Design Kit is a related planning resource.

Sources checked November 4, 2026

• National Weather Service: Winter Weather Warnings, Watches and Advisories
• National Weather Service: Winter Weather Safety
• FEMA: Continuity Guidance Circular (2024 update)