When is storm season in the Pacific Northwest?

The highest-risk period runs from October through March, with atmospheric rivers and windstorms peaking between November and January. However, significant wind events can occur outside this window. Year-round preparedness is the safest approach.

How long should my UPS keep systems running?

Most business UPS units provide 15 to 30 minutes of runtime at full load. The purpose is not to keep running — it is to allow a clean, automated shutdown of servers and to bridge brief outages. For sustained power, you need a generator.

Does my cyber insurance cover storm-related IT damage?

Cyber insurance typically covers cyber events, not natural disasters. Storm damage to IT equipment is usually covered under your commercial property policy. However, if a storm-related outage leads to a data breach — for example, a server restarts without proper security after power restoration — that may cross into cyber coverage. Review both policies with your broker before storm season.

Should I shut down servers before a major storm?

If you do not have generator backup and a significant storm is forecast, performing a clean shutdown of non-essential servers before the storm arrives is safer than risking a sudden power loss. Your UPS should handle the automated shutdown of essential systems if power drops without warning.

How does FEMA recommend businesses prepare for natural disasters?

FEMA's Ready.gov recommends that all businesses maintain a continuity plan that includes IT systems, communication plans, and supply chain considerations. Their guidance emphasizes that businesses without continuity plans are significantly less likely to recover from a major disaster.

How Should Pacific Northwest Businesses Prepare IT for Storm Season?

Pacific Northwest businesses should prepare IT for storm season by ensuring battery backup on critical systems, testing disaster recovery plans, confirming cloud backup replication, and establishing communication plans that work without power or internet. Western Washington experiences multiple major storm events per year — atmospheric rivers, bomb cyclones, and windstorms — that routinely knock out power and internet for days. The businesses that stay operational are the ones that prepared before the storm hit.

How Bad Do PNW Storms Actually Get?

If you have lived in Western Washington for any length of time, you already know the answer. But the data puts it in perspective:

November 2024 — Bomb Cyclone: A severe bomb cyclone paired with an atmospheric river knocked out power to over 600,000 customers across Washington State at its peak. Puget Sound Energy reported it as one of the largest outages in recent years, comparable to the January 2012 storm that left 476,000 customers without power for up to eight days. Seattle City Light reported restoring power to over 114,000 customers affected by the storm.

December 2025 — Consecutive Atmospheric Rivers: Multiple atmospheric river events in December 2025 knocked out power to over 500,000 customers across Washington and Oregon, with hurricane-force wind gusts. Levee failures south of Seattle triggered evacuations.

October 2025 — Windstorm: An atmospheric river event impacted 165,000 customers at peak, with the heaviest damage in Pierce and Thurston counties.

This is not unusual. Western Washington averages multiple significant storm events between October and March every year. If your IT infrastructure cannot survive a multi-day power outage, it is not a matter of if — it is when.

What Happens to Business IT During a Major Storm?

When a storm hits, the failures cascade:

Power goes out. Without battery backup (UPS), servers shut down immediately — often without a clean shutdown, which can corrupt data and damage file systems.
Internet fails. Even if you have power via a generator, your ISP’s infrastructure may be down. Fiber cuts, damaged utility poles, and flooded equipment rooms take out connectivity across entire regions.
Communication stops. VoIP phone systems need both power and internet. If your phones are cloud-hosted, they go silent when connectivity drops.
Recovery takes days, not hours. After the November 2024 bomb cyclone, PSE estimated restoration times by county, with some areas waiting until Saturday for power that went out Tuesday night. That is four days minimum for affected businesses.

What Should Your IT Storm Preparedness Checklist Include?

Power Protection

UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) on every critical system. Servers, switches, firewalls, and your primary internet equipment should all have battery backup. A UPS does not keep you running for hours — it gives you 15 to 30 minutes for a clean shutdown or to bridge the gap until a generator starts.
Generator with automatic transfer switch. If your business cannot afford to close during a multi-day outage, a generator is not optional. Make sure it is sized for your IT load plus HVAC for your server room. Test it quarterly with a load test, not just a start test.
Surge protection. Power restoration after an outage often brings voltage spikes. Every piece of IT equipment should be behind surge protection, ideally integrated into your UPS.

Data Protection

Cloud-replicated backups. Local backups are important for fast recovery, but they are useless if your building floods or loses power for a week. Your backup strategy must include offsite replication — cloud-based — that runs automatically and is verified regularly.
Test your restores. A backup that has never been tested is not a backup. Your MSP should perform periodic test restores and document the results. You should know your Recovery Time Objective (RTO) — how long it takes to restore operations — before you need it.
Document your environment. Keep an up-to-date inventory of systems, configurations, and credentials in a location accessible without your office infrastructure. A secure cloud-based password manager and documentation platform that your IT team can access from anywhere.

Connectivity

Internet redundancy. A single internet connection is a single point of failure. Businesses in Western Washington should have at least two connections from different providers using different delivery methods — for example, fiber primary with LTE or fixed wireless failover.
SD-WAN or automatic failover. Having two connections does nothing if the failover is manual. Configure your network to automatically switch to the backup connection when the primary fails.
Cell phone hotspot as emergency fallback. Even if your primary and backup connections both fail, a cell phone hotspot can keep critical cloud services accessible for key staff. This is not a long-term solution, but it bridges gaps.

Communication

Establish a communication tree that does not depend on your office infrastructure. Use personal cell phones and a messaging platform (Teams, Signal) that staff already have on their phones.
Forward your business phone. If your VoIP system goes down, calls should auto-forward to a cell phone. Configure this before storm season.
Client communication templates. Pre-draft a brief message for clients explaining the situation and your expected timeline. Sending this quickly during an event builds trust.

What About Employees Working from Home During Storms?

Remote work capability is one of the strongest storm resilience strategies available. If your team can work from home — and their homes have power — a storm that closes your office does not have to close your business.

This requires:

Cloud-hosted or cloud-accessible business applications. If your critical software lives on an on-premises server that is down, remote access does not help.
Laptops instead of desktops. Laptops have built-in battery backup and are portable. A desktop-dependent workforce is an office-dependent workforce.
VPN or zero-trust network access. Staff need secure access to company resources from outside the office. This should already be configured and tested, not set up during an emergency.
Tested remote work procedures. Run a “storm drill” before storm season. Have everyone work from home for a day and identify what breaks.

How Should You Prioritize If Budget Is Limited?

Not every business can implement everything at once. Here is the priority order:

Cloud backup with offsite replication — This protects your data regardless of what happens to your physical location. Non-negotiable.
UPS on servers and network equipment — Prevents data corruption from sudden power loss. Relatively inexpensive.
Internet redundancy — A secondary connection prevents single-point-of-failure outages. Cost varies by location.
Communication plan — Free to create, invaluable during an event.
Generator — Significant investment, but essential for businesses that cannot afford multi-day closures.

ROI Technology serves businesses across Western Washington’s storm-prone counties — Skagit, Whatcom, Snohomish, King, and Pierce. We build IT environments that survive what the Pacific Northwest throws at them. Talk to us about storm-proofing your infrastructure.