Winter Storm Jonas is starting to hit the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the US today, with snow, ice, and perhaps even thundersnow expected to hit. During these major weather events, it’s important to be able to communicate with your loved ones, and T-Mobile is making sure that you can do just that.

T-Mo says that it’s got Cell On Wheels (COWs) and fuel tanks ready to roll in the areas of impact, and it’s also got engineers and rapid response teams prepared to move out and take care of any issues that might arise. Meanwhile, T-Mobile’s Network Operation Centers are keeping an eye on network traffic and can switch to backups it necessary.

T-Mobile stores are taking part in the storm safety effort, too. Stores that are open will offer charging stations for everyone, regardless of which carrier they’re on, to ensure that folks can keep in touch with loved ones.

As for what you can do to help protect yourself during the storm, you can ensure that your handset is fully charged and have a plan to juice it back up if need be. You should also try to keep your phone dry so that you don’t lose your line of communication. And if you do need to contact someone, T-Mo recommends using a text message first since they’re more likely to go through during times of heavy network traffic. If you need to make a call, you can use Wi-Fi Calling to stay off the cellular network, and you can keep cellular calls brief to ensure that others’ calls can get through, too.

While it remains to be seen if the winter storm is as bad as the forecasts say it will be, the snow has already started falling in several cities. So if you’re in an area that’s predicted to be hit by the storm, it’d be wise to charge up your phone and be sure that you’re prepared for the worst. Be safe, folks!

Source: T-Mobile