Most winters, a “cold day” on the Eastern Shore means a jacket in the morning and short sleeves by lunch. Then every so often we get one that reminds everybody this isn’t Key West. January 2025 was one of those. There was snow on the ground across the Gulf Coast, and the official NOAA station across the bay in Mobile recorded 6 degrees on January 22, the second-coldest reading in its records.

The trouble with rare freezes is that a lot of our homes aren’t built with them in mind. Water lines run through exterior walls, open crawlspaces and attics. Plenty of houses are raised. Outdoor spigots, irrigation backflow preventers and tankless water heaters sit right out in the weather. And heat pumps that spend most of the year cooling suddenly have to carry the whole house through a cold that only shows up every few years.

Here’s how we’d get a house ready.

Watch the Forecast (and Know Your Spot)

The National Weather Service office in Mobile issues Freeze Warnings and Hard Freeze Warnings for Baldwin County. When you see one of those, it’s time to act, not the morning after.

Where you live matters too. Inland parts of the county like Bay Minette and Robertsdale usually run colder than neighborhoods near the bay or the Gulf, because the water holds heat. Homes along the bay in Daphne and Fairhope get a little cushion. Not much in a real arctic blast, though.

One more thing the NWS has pointed out over the years: on clear, calm nights after a strong cold front, the second night can turn out colder than the first once the wind dies down. So don’t pack away the pipe insulation after one rough morning.

Protecting Your Pipes

Find your main water shutoff now

If a pipe bursts at 3 a.m., you don’t want to be hunting for the meter box with a phone flashlight. Know where the main shutoff is, make sure it turns, and keep the tool it needs handy.

Insulate what’s exposed

Foam pipe sleeves from the hardware store are cheap and quick to install. Cover any pipes you can reach under a raised house, in a crawlspace, in the garage or along an exterior wall. Put insulated covers on outdoor spigots, and unhook your garden hoses. A hose left connected can trap water that freezes back into the faucet.

Drip the right faucets

On a freezing night, let faucets on exterior walls drip slowly. If it’s a single-handle faucet, set it in the middle so both hot and cold lines get a little flow. Moving water is a lot less likely to freeze, and a dripping faucet relieves pressure if ice does form.

Open the cabinet doors

Under-sink cabinets on outside walls trap cold air. Open them up overnight so the warm air from the house can reach the pipes.

Don’t forget irrigation and outdoor equipment

Shut off and drain your irrigation system, or at least turn it off so the sprinklers don’t glaze your driveway with ice. Backflow preventers are notorious for cracking in a freeze, so wrap them or follow your irrigation company’s advice. If you have a pool, call your pool company about running the pump. If your tankless water heater lives outside, check the manufacturer’s freeze-protection instructions. Many of those rely on electric power to stay safe.

If a pipe freezes anyway

Turn on the faucet it feeds so melting water has somewhere to go. Warm the pipe gently with a hair dryer, working from the faucet end back toward the frozen spot. Never use an open flame. If a pipe has split, shut off the main and call a plumber.

Helping Your Heat Pump Through a Freeze

Expect frost, steam and some odd noises

In freezing weather your heat pump will go into defrost mode more often. You’ll hear it switch over and might see steam rolling off the outdoor unit. That’s normal. (We cover this in more detail in our post on why a heat pump blows cold air.)

Don’t cover the outdoor unit

People mean well when they throw a tarp over the outdoor unit. Please don’t. Your heat pump needs airflow to heat the house, and a cover can trap moisture that turns into ice. If snow or sleet piles up around the base, gently brush it away with a broom. Never chip ice off the coil.

Also look up. A gutter dripping onto the unit can build a thick cap of ice on top. If you can redirect it safely, do.

Set the thermostat and leave it alone

Pick a comfortable temperature and let it be. Big swings, like dropping to 62 overnight and cranking it to 72 at 6 a.m., call in the backup heat strips and make the system work harder at the coldest part of the day. Small adjustments are fine.

Know when emergency heat makes sense

If your outdoor unit stops running or ices over solid, switch to EM HEAT to keep the house warm and call us. Otherwise, leave it on regular HEAT. The heat pump and its automatic backup heat are designed to work together through a freeze.

Gas furnace? Check your safety basics

Make sure your carbon monoxide detectors work and nothing is blocking furnace vents or the flue. And just to say it plainly: never heat your home with a gas oven, and never run a generator in a garage, carport or near open windows. Space heaters go straight into a wall outlet, about three feet from anything that can burn.

Indoor Air During a Cold Snap

Here’s the funny part about living on the Eastern Shore. With the bay at our back door, we spend most of the year fighting humidity, and then a freeze flips the problem around.

Cold air holds very little moisture. When your heating system warms that air up, the indoor humidity drops fast. That’s when you notice cracked lips, itchy skin, static shocks off the doorknob and small gaps opening up in hardwood floors.

The EPA recommends keeping indoor relative humidity between 30 and 50 percent. A cheap digital hygrometer will tell you where you stand. If you’re consistently dry in the winter months, a whole-house humidifier is worth talking through with us. Just don’t overdo it with portable humidifiers. Too much moisture will fog up cold windows and can lead to mold around the frames.

Then, two days later, it’s 72 and muggy again. Those quick swings are part of why musty smells often show up in late winter, and a dehumidifier can help when the damp returns. Our indoor air quality team can help figure out what makes sense for your house.

Got a Few Weeks of Lead Time?

Use it. A fall heat pump tune-up catches weak parts before a freeze finds them, and it’s a lot easier to get on the schedule before a Hard Freeze Warning hits the news.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I drip my faucets in Daphne, Fairhope or Spanish Fort?

There’s no official cutoff, but if the forecast calls for a hard freeze, or several hours below freezing with wind, drip the faucets on exterior walls. That goes double for raised homes and houses with crawlspaces. A little water is cheap compared to a burst pipe.

Should I cover my heat pump in winter?

No. A heat pump needs airflow to heat your home, and a cover can trap moisture and ice. Keep the area around it clear instead.

Is it normal for my heat pump to frost over during a freeze?

Light frost that clears during defrost cycles is normal. Thick ice that stays for hours means something needs attention, so switch to emergency heat and call a technician.

Why does my house feel so dry when it’s cold outside?

Cold outdoor air carries very little moisture, and heating it lowers indoor humidity even more. Keeping humidity between 30 and 50 percent, as the EPA recommends, helps with dry skin and static.

Need Help Before (or During) the Next Freeze?

Call us at (251) 225-4035 or request service online. We serve Spanish Fort, Daphne, Fairhope, Bay Minette and the rest of Baldwin County, with 24/7 emergency service when the cold won’t wait.