Well, living in the INW we don't really have to prepare for hurricanes and such. However, we do have fire weather and winter weather prep "plans." For both we make sure that all the rigs are fully fueled, stocks are double checked. For winter we make sure there are chains in every rig and that they are good to go, extra blankets, extra water. Crews are encouraged to bring a kit with warm clothes, some non perishable food, etc. I just bring a backpack with winter stuff and some water and granola bars. We don't have any specific go/no go guidelines. I think common sense is supposed to handle that. We drive one ton 4x4 trucks so with some chains on, we can go virtually anywhere. Two years ago we had a blizzard when I was on. It started as I left for work and about 20 hours into my shift we had tons of snow. The county was having a hard time keeping up, and I didn't want to have to push through 3 feet of snow for 25 miles. So I told dispatch we couldn't take the call unless we got a plow. Next thing I know we got a call from public works telling us there was a plow ready for us. He lead the way to the house for us, we got our pt and took them into the hospital. That was neat.
This past winter I started carrying my ski goggles balaclava and jacket after hearing a crew tell about a call. It was a snow mobile accident and the pt needed to be air lifted to the trauma center. Well the bird arrived and tried to land, but the snow was too soft. So the pilot held it in a hover with the skids sunk just a few inches in the snow while the flight crew and the amb crew did a hot load. Afterwards they took pictures of each other and they looked like they had just stepped out of an Antarctic expedition, complete with icicles hanging from their nose and eyelids. :-S
