How To Prepare Your Northwest Florida Home For Hurricane Season: A 2026 Checklist

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — and nowhere is that truer than along the Emerald Coast. Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, which means Crestview, Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, and Navarre homeowners have a narrow window to get their houses storm-ready. The families who fare best after a named storm aren’t the ones who run to the hardware store at the last minute. They’re the ones who worked a calm, methodical checklist weeks before the sky turned green.

At AIM Service Group, our Northwest Florida office has helped homeowners across Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties button up their houses since well before Hurricane Michael. This is the same room-by-room walkthrough our technicians use when customers call and ask, “What should I actually be doing right now?”

Use it as a living checklist. Print it. Share it with a neighbor who just moved down from Georgia. And start now — don’t wait for the Weather Channel to rename a tropical wave.

Know Your Zone Before The First Watch Is Issued

Long before you think about plywood or generators, spend fifteen minutes learning two things:

• Your evacuation zone. Okaloosa, Walton, and Santa Rosa counties each publish a zone lookup tool. Knowing whether you’re in Zone A, B, or C changes every other decision you make.
• Your nearest shelter and your evacuation route. If you live south of Highway 98 in Destin or on Okaloosa Island, your evacuation route will almost certainly involve the Mid-Bay Bridge or Highway 85 north through Niceville and Crestview. Those roads fill up fast.

Homeowners farther inland in Crestview and Baker face a different set of concerns — wind and power outages more than storm surge — but the principle is the same. Decide your plan on a calm day. Not at 3 a.m. with the wind picking up.

Secure The Exterior: Roof, Windows, And Yard

Most hurricane damage in Northwest Florida homes starts outside. Walk your property with a notebook and look for:

• Loose roof shingles, lifted flashing, or soft spots. If you can see daylight through attic vents, water can get in too. Get a roofer out now, not in July.
• Window protection. Storm shutters are ideal. If you’re using plywood, pre-cut and label each piece by window. Store the screws with them.
• Trees and limbs within falling distance of the house. Pine trees across the Panhandle are notorious for dropping branches during tropical storm-force winds. Trim anything that could land on a roof, a car, or a power line.
• Outdoor furniture, grills, planters, and trash cans. Anything you can lift by yourself becomes a projectile in 80-mph winds. Have a garage or shed plan for every piece.
• Gutters and downspouts. Clear them. A clogged gutter sends water straight behind your fascia and into the wall.

Protect Your HVAC System The Right Way

This is where a lot of well-meaning homeowners get it wrong. Here’s what our technicians actually recommend for Northwest Florida homes:

Do this before the storm:

• Clear a 2-foot radius around your outdoor condenser. Leaves, patio cushions, and potted plants all turn into shrapnel.
• Install a whole-home surge protector or, at minimum, a dedicated HVAC surge protector at the disconnect. The bigger damage in most coastal Florida storms isn’t the wind — it’s the power surge when the grid comes back online.
• Switch the system off at both the thermostat AND the outdoor disconnect before the storm hits. Don’t rely on the breaker alone.
• Photograph your exterior equipment and your indoor air handler for insurance records.

Don’t do this:

• Don’t wrap the entire condenser in a tarp or plastic. Trapped moisture causes corrosion and can hide damage. If you want physical protection, use a manufacturer-rated cover — and only put it on during the storm itself.
• Don’t skip your annual tune-up in April or May. A system that’s struggling before the storm will be a disaster after. If your AC is already showing signs of trouble, fix it now—not in August.

If you’d rather not think about any of this, the fastest option is to enroll your system in our AIM Comfort Club maintenance plan. Priority scheduling before hurricane season is one of the quiet perks our Crestview, Destin, and Navarre members use most.

Build A Real Emergency Kit — The Emerald Coast Version

Most “hurricane kit” lists you’ll find online were written by someone in Atlanta. Here’s what Northwest Florida actually needs, drawn from what our customers reported after Michael, Sally, and Idalia:

• Seven days of water (one gallon per person per day). Not three. Seven.
• Non-perishable food that doesn’t require cooking.
• Generator fuel — enough for four to five days. Power restoration in rural parts of Okaloosa, Walton, and Santa Rosa counties has historically taken longer than coastal areas because of the tree canopy and line access.
• Prescription medications (two-week supply if possible).
• Cash. When ATMs and card readers go down, cash is king.
• Paper copies of insurance documents, IDs, and the deed to your house in a waterproof bag.
• Phone chargers plus a battery bank or two.
• A manual can opener. More storms have been ruined by forgetting this one item than you’d believe.

After The Storm: The Walk-Around Every Homeowner Should Do

Once it’s safe to step outside, resist the urge to flip everything back on at once.

1. Do an exterior walk-around first. Look for downed lines, gas leaks, standing water near the AC unit, and damaged soffits.
2. Check the attic. A small roof leak in a hot, humid attic becomes a mold problem within 48 hours.
3. Inspect your outdoor condenser. If it was submerged — even briefly — do not turn it back on. Salt water and sand inside the coils can severely damage the unit and even create a fire hazard. Call a licensed technician.
4. Watch your indoor air. Power outages combined with high humidity are a recipe for dirty sock syndrome and mold in your ductwork. If your home smells musty when the AC kicks back on, act fast.
5. Don’t ignore strange sounds. Grinding, humming, or rattling after a storm usually means debris or electrical damage. Try these basic AC troubleshooting steps — if they don’t solve it, call for service.

The 6-Week Pre-Season Tune-Up Checklist (Do This In April Or May)

If you only do one thing before June 1, make it this:

• Schedule a professional HVAC tune-up through our Crestview office or any of our Northwest Florida service areas. A technician will check refrigerant, clean the coil, verify the electrical connections, and flag anything marginal.
• Test your generator and rotate fuel.
• Photograph your property inside and out.
• Refresh batteries in smoke detectors, flashlights, and emergency radios.
• Update your family’s evacuation plan and meeting point.

The goal isn’t to eliminate every risk. It’s to make sure that on the day a storm is named in the Gulf, your to-do list is short, your house is already tight, and your AC is already ready for whatever comes next.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does hurricane season officially start in Northwest Florida?

Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with peak activity in the Florida Panhandle typically falling between mid-August and late October.

Should I cover my AC unit during a hurricane?

Only with a manufacturer-rated cover and only during the storm itself. Covering a condenser long-term traps moisture and promotes corrosion, which is a much bigger problem along the Emerald Coast than most homeowners realize.

How soon after a hurricane can I turn my AC back on?

Visually inspect the outdoor unit first. If there’s standing water, sand, or debris in the condenser — or if the power came back with a large surge — do not turn it on. Call a licensed technician in Crestview, Destin, or wherever you are in Northwest Florida to inspect it first.

Will a portable generator damage my HVAC system?

It can. Most portable generators don’t produce clean enough power to run a central AC system safely, and they rarely have the capacity. If you want to run your HVAC during an outage, you need a properly sized standby generator and a transfer switch installed by a licensed electrician.

What’s the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning?

A watch means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours. A warning means they’re expected within 36 hours. By the time a warning is issued for Okaloosa or Santa Rosa County, your prep should already be done.

Ready For Storm Season? We’ll Help You Get There.

AIM Service Group has served homeowners across Northwest Florida — Crestview, Destin, Niceville, Navarre, Fort Walton Beach, Milton, and beyond — for years. Our Crestview office at 5697 Seminole Dr is staffed by technicians who live here, raise their kids here, and ride out these storms alongside you.

Call us at 850-605-0005 or schedule your pre-season tune-up online. Ask about the Bullseye Comfort Club — our maintenance plan members get priority scheduling during hurricane season, exactly when everyone else is on a two-week waitlist.