North Texans making last-minute preparations for expected winter weather

North Texans are lining up at gas pumps and grocery stores are still seeing packed parking lots as many are finishing up their last-minute preparations for the winter weather in the forecast.

"We’re not going to get caught this time like we did last time. We’re all a little bit more wiser," John Blankenship said.

Memories of the 2021 winter storm are still fresh on the minds of many North Texans. 

Contractors, like Blankenship, are still finishing up repairs from that storm, and are now preparing for below freezing temperatures and winter weather again. 

"It was terrible last year, my shop, we were down for three to five days, at least," Blankenship said. "I’m still repairing homes we have now from last year, ongoing progress."

In Turtle Creek, employees with Ron’s Organics have been busy making sure various plants are covered and protected. 

"Last year, last February, every single one like this died," said Mike Delmonico, with Ron’s Organics.

The company said they started getting calls as soon as below-freezing temperatures were in the forecast, with many homeowners learning their lesson from last year, and now taking precautions ahead of this week’s expected weather. 

"What I would recommend is going outside and turning your sprinkler system off, just turn it completely off so we don’t have those issues," Delmonico said. "Just wait for the pipes to thaw out before you decide to turn it back on again."

RELATED: Be Prepared: Tips for power outages, avoiding frozen pipes

Like others at the gas pump Wednesday, Veronica Cortez was topping off her tank, making sure her household is ready. 

Last year, her family lost power for nearly 40 hours. 

"It was definitely a shock to lose power for that long and not be prepared for it, so at least this year we’ve got the mentality of just being prepared for anything," she said.

Hoping to be prepared, just in case. 

"You just never know," she added. "You lived through that before, you don’t want to live through it again, so we just want to be prepared in any way we can."

City crews in Dallas will start monitoring the roads for any potential problems Wednesday evening. 

The city’s emergency operations center is currently operating 24 hours through at least midday Friday.