After a very long winter under a blanket of frozen snow we are all busting at the seams to lather on sunscreen and don our bathing suits.

You’ve probably already started buying beach gear, the latest summer styles and even plopped a bucket of flowers on your front porch.

So why haven’t you devoted the same amount of thought and time into prepping for when that summer sun turns to violent summer storms?

You should.

Just weeks ago, most of the nation suffered white outs, several days of power outages in freezing temperatures and impassable roads this winter. This week that same giant swath of land was terrorized by deadly flood waters, tornadoes and violent thunder storms.

Were you ready?

The last minute rush on supplies and decimated, empty aisles in grocery stores suggests most of us probably were not.

Emergency storm prep is no joke but it also is something a lot of us forget about. We feel like we rarely need it. A supply of extra food, water (per person), medicine, batteries and a generator? Who has the money or space to store it?

Military families have the extra burden of having less storage area in government quarters to keep these life-saving supplies and sometimes move so frequently (with six months to a year between some PCS moves) that it makes no sense to keep all these extra items on hand.

It can be a pain, it can take money from your budget but you just need to do it.

While there is often a few days warning for bad winter weather, summer storms can appear seemingly out of nowhere. Tornadoes do not make appointments. And you do not have to take a direct hit from a hurricane to feel the pain for days after.

Military families who PCS during the summer should take extra care to learn the lay of the land while they are creating their emergency kit. When the weatherman says, ‘Those in the northeast part of the county need to seek shelter now’, you want to know where your live in the county before the storm starts, not begin Googling it as the storm churns overhead. Map the evacuation routes, learn where the county emergency shelters are.

This is simple advice. Build an emergency kit. Visit http://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit  for instructions on what to place in your kit but also advice on surviving a weather emergency.

With everything you have to maintain, move and purchase over and over again every time you PCS as a military family, I know this adds to the list and it is an easy item to skip.

Just don’t. Make it a priority. Be ready.