Tips For Surviving The Extreme Cold

Winter and extreme cold present unique survival challenges, and now that winter storm Blair has hit here in Brandenburg, Kentucky, what better time to list a few tips for surviving the extreme cold.  Taking a little bit of time to learn basic things like how to drive in snow, how to dress if you must be out in the elements, and how to create shelter if your home loses heat are valuable skills that can save your life.

The biggest risk in extreme cold is hypothermia, frostbite, and dehydration.

In almost any situation you face one of your primary concerns should be how to keep warm and protect your skin from the bitter cold.  Depending on conditions, you can become hypothermic in as little as a few minutes.  Body heat is one of your most important assets.  One of the most important things you can do in any cold survival situation is be properly dressed.  Wearing layers of clothing is so important because body heat is trapped underneath the layers and will help keep you warm and your skin protected.  The value of multiple layers and insulation isn’t the material itself. The real value is trapped air pockets between those layers and around your body that warm up and keep you comfortable.  Since heat is so important, things that reduce your heat are the most threatening — namely, exposure to the elements, wind, and skin contact with water (including sweat).  Wear a moisture-wicking base layer to keep perspiration away from your skin. Make sure to cover as much skin as possible to block air from whisking heat away.

Recognize symptoms of hypothermia.  Hypothermia is when your body’s core temperature drops below 95 F, which causes your vital systems to shut down. This happens when your body loses heat faster than it’s produced.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to severe cold causes your body to use up stored energy so it can maintain the right internal temperature. Hypothermia can happen quickly in freezing temperatures, especially if you get chilled from sweat, rain, or submersion in cold water.  One of the scariest things about hypothermia is that it’s difficult to self-diagnose. The line between simply being cold and hypothermic depends on things like mental clarity. If you’re starting to lose it, you might not know it.

Hypothermia symptoms:

• uncontrollable shivering, or worse, a complete lack of shivering impulse

• drowsiness, lethargy, shallow breathing, weak pulse

• poor coordination, stumbling, can’t do basic hand gestures

• confusion, incoherence, slurred speech, irrational thoughts and behavior

• change in attitude and unreasonably irritable behavior

Your body shivers to create warmth. Normally you can override that impulse with your willpower, but once you can’t stop it anymore, that’s your body’s way of telling you something is super wrong.

Where hypothermia is about your internal temperature dropping, frostbite is more about your external skin damage.  Frostbite occurs when skin or body tissue is damaged from freezing. Ice crystals form in and around cells, and if it gets bad enough, those parts of your body will die and might need to be amputated.  Frostbite is most likely to happen in body parts that are furthest away from your heart, like your fingers, toes, cheeks, ears, and nose.  The further from your heart, the less internal warmth those cells get from pumped blood.  A 0 Fahrenheit temperature with light winds can cause frostbite in just 30 minutes.

Frostbite symptoms

• numbness

• a feeling of pins and needles

• hardening of exposed skin

• redness (mild frostbite)

• pale or waxy color and feel (more severe frostbite)

• swelling

• blisters or scabs

• pain

It is important to be prepared if it is extremely cold outside and your primary source of heat fails or if the power is out.  If you live in an area that has severe winters, you really should invest in a backup heating source or a generator.  Don’t forget to turn on your faucets to a light drip so that the pipes don’t freeze and burst.  It’s easier to heat a smaller space than a big one, so shrink down your living/eating/sleeping space as much as possible into one area. Close off any rooms you can live without and do whatever you can to avoid going in and out.

Practicing and knowing how to drive on snow and ice is important if you must travel in these conditions.  Give yourself more time to get to your destination. Many accidents happen when people are careless or in a hurry.  Make sure you have supplies in your vehicle in the event of an accident to keep your warm until help arrives.  A blanket, a bottle of water, extra clothing and a phone charger.

Winter is here and will not be going away any time soon. We hope these survival tips will help if you have to be out in the weather.  At Lancaster Lawn & Landscaping, LLC, safety is our number one priority, especially when we must be out in the extreme cold.  Stay safe and stay warm!