Oklahoma’s Ice Storm Season: The Best Solar Generators for Backup

By SolarHomeCompare Team · Published July 20, 2026

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When a historic ice storm hit Oklahoma City in late October 2020, it coated trees that still had their leaves, dropped limbs and lines across the metro, and left more than 300,000 OG&E and PSO customers in the dark — many for days. It was one of the worst ice events the state had seen, and it came on top of Oklahoma’s usual menu of spring tornadoes and summer straight-line winds. The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) grid that Oklahoma Gas & Electric and Public Service Company of Oklahoma sit inside can’t restore that kind of widespread distribution damage quickly. If you’re already comparing Oklahoma solar quotes, it’s worth knowing a grid-tied rooftop system shuts off during a blackout (anti-islanding) unless you also have storage.

What the 2020 ice storm taught Oklahoma homeowners

The lesson wasn’t “buy any generator” — it was “buy backup that works when the store shelves are empty and the roads are bad.” Oklahomans who ran out to grab gas generators spent the outage hunting for fuel and running engines outdoors in freezing rain. A solar generator sidesteps all of it: no fuel to find, nothing to spill, no exhaust, and safe to run indoors. Jackery’s units are LiFePO4, run near 30 decibels, and refill from the sun once the ice melts off the panels.

How much solar generator you need in tornado alley

Start with the load that defines your outage. If you need to keep central air running through a summer tornado-season blackout in the heat, you need real output — the Solar Generator 5000 Plus delivers 5,040Wh and 7,200W with 120V and 240V, and expands to 60kWh, enough to carry an air conditioner plus the rest of the house.

▶ View the Solar Generator 5000 Plus

Most Oklahoma homes that want to stay comfortable and keep the essentials on land on the HomePower 3600 Plus: 3,584Wh, 3,600W, expandable to 21kWh, and able to tie into your circuits through a transfer switch so a window unit, fridge, and lights all keep running.

▶ Check the HomePower 3600 Plus

If your goal is simply protecting the fridge, phones, and Wi-Fi through an ice-storm outage, the HomePower 3000 (about 3,072Wh, 3,600W) covers essentials for one to two days and ships with panels to recharge mid-outage — the practical pick for a smaller home or a tighter budget.

▶ See the HomePower 3000 solar generator use code DEAL5

Buy before the next ice storm or twister

The worst time to shop is with an ice storm in the forecast and every store in the metro sold out. Set it up now, keep it charged, and it’s ready when the next system spins up. It’s worth checking the current deals first.

▶ See current Jackery deals

Keep reading: Oklahoma solar incentives & costs · Best solar generators for home backup (Kansas) · Best solar generators for home backup (Texas)

Frequently Asked Questions

What made the October 2020 Oklahoma ice storm so damaging?

It struck in late October, when trees still held their leaves, so ice loaded onto full canopies and brought limbs and lines down across Oklahoma City and central Oklahoma. More than 300,000 OG&E and PSO customers lost power, some for the better part of a week. Because it damaged the distribution network so widely, restoration was slow — the case for having your own backup rather than waiting on a crew.

Can a solar generator run my air conditioning during an Oklahoma outage?

Central AC needs the Solar Generator 5000 Plus, which delivers 7,200W and 240V. A single window unit runs off a HomePower 3600 Plus. In tornado alley, summer outages hit in dangerous heat, so if cooling is the priority, size for the air conditioner first and layer the fridge and lights on top.

Solar generator or gas generator for Oklahoma weather?

For home use, a solar generator. After the 2020 ice storm, fuel and roads were hard to count on for days. A Jackery LiFePO4 unit needs no fuel, runs near 30 decibels, is safe indoors because it vents nothing, and recharges from its panels — so it keeps going through a long outage instead of running dry, whether the cause is ice or a tornado.

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