COLD

Blizzard: a severe and heavy snowstorm with cold wind and blinding snow. Seek shelter from the iwnd and cold. All else failing, get behind a snowdrift and dig a snow cave with a small opening to the outside. Avoid avalanche prone slopes. Persons outside in the a blizzard must keep moving to live. All external body parts must be frequently moved to keep from freezing. Wiggle toes an fingers; make faces; pull ears, nose, and lips; slap arms across chest; and jump up and down. To sleep is usually to die. Beware of snow-rimmed water. To get wet is a sure invitation to freeze. If you do get wet, roll over and over in snow then brush yourself off and do it again. Snow will help mop out the moisture. Clothes that are soaking can be quickly removed and wrung partially dry. Put clothes back on and roll in the snow or change to dry clothing if available. Wrap in blanket(s) or add layers of clothing to keep warm. Do not get so hot that you sweat., because the sweat will cause evaporative cooling of the body. Remove some clothing and loosen your collar and cuffs to ventilate. Do not panic. Sit out the storm. Do not touch bare metal in freezing cold. Build a fire to keep you warm.

If stranded in your car, stay with it. Do not risk freezing to death by abandoning your car to walk down the road. You will not get very far in extreme cold under condition of blinding snow. Turn on the car’s dome light at night so you may be seen and found by road rescue crews. Let some fresh air in the car every hour to avoid oxygen starvation. Avoid carbon monoxide poisoning by running the car motor and heater only a few minutes at a time. First make sure that the motor exhaust is clear of snow.

Protect livestock in blizzards for economic, survival, and humane reasons. Move to area where terrain and trees will provide natural protection. Small sheds may lead to overcrowding, overheating, and respiratory disorders. Haul extra food and hay before the storm arrives. Remember, cattle must have water to survive because they cannot lick enough snow to provide for their needs. Use water heaters or water movement devices, and check to make sure they work. (additional survival information for livestock is available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture).

Camp Mistakes: frequent errors made by campers in cold weather. The most common is the burning of a fire or stove in an unventilated confined area such as a tent, snow cave, camper-truck, etc. do not fall asleep with the fire or stove burning. Beware of a yellow flame – this is the danger signal. Ventilate your shelter with an air hole to the outside. If you do not, you may get carbon monoxide poisoning.

The second most common mistake is doing the things that lead to insomnia. These include allowing yourself to become cold, wet, hungry, exposed or partially exposed, and improperly prepared for bed. Before attempting to sleep, eat a good meal if food is available. Prepare a good shelter. Smooth the ground and lay down a ground-cloth, trail pad, blanket, or clothing as a base for a sleeping bag. Fluff out the bag and make sure it is dry. Take off your shoes and clothes sleep in dry underwear and socks. Use soft clothing as a pillow. Turn with the sleeping bag and do not fight to turn in it. Keep your face in the opening. Do not trap your head inside.

Exposure: a lack of protection from wet and cold resulting in a sharp drop in body temperature. The specific condition is known as hypothermia. This causes a person to stumble, fall, and shiver. Your skin will be icy and pale. Stop and find a shelter or build a windbreak. Get out of your wet clothes and quickly air-dry your body. Jump into a sleeping bag. Do not try to warm yout body with fire, friction, or hot water. If outside, do put a heavy layer of clothing or dry vegetation under the sleeping bag. An alternative is to find a rotten log and shred it to form a two-inch bed of rotting wod which generates its own heat. A bed of hot rocks will also keep you warm, but first cover the rocks with dirt to prevent burning your bedding or body.

Feet: that part of the body which keeps you standing or walking. You are most subject to frostbite and trench foot under the conditions of cold and wet. In the case of frostbite, your feet feel stuff and have a prickling feeling. Pain, swelling, and reddening will develop and the flesh feels like it contains coarse sand. Do not treat with snow, ice, gasoline, oil, rubbing, pounding, hot water, hot rocks, hot fire, or any other radical action. Thaw slowly using warmth of the human body, warm water or wrap them in a dry clothing or blankets first warmed by fire. If the pain increases, your warmth treatment is too radical. Trench foot causes the toes and feet to become pale and stiff. Do not rub or apply warmth. Arch your feet and wiggle your toes constantly if you have no way to dry your feet. Ideally, dry feet with cloth or towel, massage with bare hands, put on dry socks, and keep your feet dry. Make sure that you sleep with dry feet that are slightly elevated.

Ice Age: a glacier epoch characterized by the formation of ice sheets over large portions of the earth’s surface. Although another epoch is not anticipated, it is expected that we will have mini-ice ages about once in every hundred years. The exact time is not known. These could cause worldwide drops in the average mean temperature and thuse act to reduce the world’s food supply. Corrective action is to have no less than a one year’s emergency food supply. Stock this in your home, along with extra fuels and extra warm clothing. Winter will be longer and harder, and there will be more spring flooding, until the mini-ice age has ended.

Immobilized: caught in a chilling environment from which you are unable to escape on an immediate basis. Prime examples are an ice raft at sea, or locked in a freezer. In the case of the raft, chip block or snow or ice to make a shelter. Brace blocks together at the top with the bottoms about three feet apart to form an A shape. Use additional blocks to close the ends. If the current keeps the ice from twisting or turning, ice blocks can be used to help form signal shadows. Three uniform visual shadows side by side would provide an international distress signal. Mirror and other signal devices should also be used if available. When trapped in a freezer, you must keep all body parts moving. Scream, shout, and bang for help. Look for emergency instructions as well as mechanisms for opening the door. Try to cut the course of power if you can do so without danger of electrical shock. Look for a control or fuse box. Turn the switch, remove the fuse, or pry wires loose with a wooden object – anything but metal.

Inadequate Clothing: improper or insufficient rain gear, hat, coat, scarf, shirt or sweater, windproof pants, underwear, gloves, face mask, goggles, socks, shoes, belt, parks, sleeping bag, or other sleeping equipment. Ideally, when it is cold and raining (and you have no shelter), you reach in your pack and pull out light-weight rubber boots and a rain suit that will fully protect your body. Those who are unprepared must find other solutions. Seek natural shelter that will keep you out of the rain. Do not stop and wait in a leaky shelter because you will still get wet and cold and risk exposure. If you are cold and you lack proper clothing, stop the body heat-leaking points around your neck, ankles, wrists, and knees. Add as many layers of clothing as possible. Tie opening with string after stuffing with cloth, paper, or dry grass. Pack shredded wood between layers of clothing. Keep moving, or build a fire and shelter.

Lack of Shelter: inability to find protection from the wet, cold, snow, and/or wind. This usually results in exposure leading to death. Shelter must be found or improvised. Even on a polar ice cap, you can abtain shelter by building an igloo from cut ice blocks. See the Blizzard, Wind Chill, and Exposure sections for several suggested solutions. Means to construct various shelters are discussed under the section of Fundamental Survival Skills.

No Heat: the absence of any source of hotness to warm the body, cook, dry wet clothes, signal, or boost morale. If outdoors, build a fire. Select the site of the fire carefully. Avoid wet spots, dripping overhangs, snow-covered trees, windy hills, or locations near materials that could spread fire or cause an explosion. An example of the latter would be a gas tank. Use rocks, logs, or scraped earth to build a small mound around the fire. Flat rocks on the bottom and sides of the fire pit will store and reflect the heat. Plan for a small fire. Prepare dry tinder formed from plant materials, string, cotton balls or thread, shredded bark, wood shavings pounded between two rocks, dry birds nests, commercial tinder, and so on. Place a two inch diameter nest-shaped tinder ball in the center of the fire pit. Form a 4 to 6 inch high three-sided pyramid (openside to the wind) of kindling made from grass, wood shavings, rags, paper, shaved twigs, or other materials. Leave cracks for a draft. Make sure everything used is as dry as possible. Collect a supply of fuel. Look for dead trees or shrubs, driftwood, dung, peat, scraps of wood, or anything you think will burn. Reduce to a small size. Avoid shrubs with heavy dark resin. The smoke may be hamful to your lungs. Now you are ready to start the fire. Light the tinder using a match, lighted candle, cigarette lighter, metal match, flint and steel, or bowdrill. An alternative is to use the heat of sunlight through a convex lens, eyeglass, a piece of ice, or the bottom of a pop bottle. Blow the resulting sparks gently to start the fire. Shield from a strong draft of air. Add fuel slowly. Inside your home, use your fireplace or woodburning stove. If you plan ahead, you should have a camping heater or stove with fuel for use in emergencies. The alternative is to put on extra clothing or stay in bed using plenty of blankets. This will keep you going until you can solve the heat problem. See the Heat and Light section for more information.

Water: rivers, ponds, lakes, seas, and oceans that can cause Hypothermia - loss of inner body heat - if any survivor is forced to remain therein during cold weather. For survival purposes, water less than 70 degrees Farenheit is considered cold. Cold water will sap your body heat very quickly. When you swim or tread water this wastes even more body heat. Water saps the body’s heat much faster than air. Use a floatation device or floating debris to get yourself out of the water as far as possible. Keep all your clothes on no matter how wet. lf you are forced to remain in the water, fold your arms over your chest and pull your knees up to your chest. Float in this position with your head above the water. lf more than one person is in the water, huddle with body sides pressed together. Body heat is lost fastest from the sides, neck, groin, and head. The colder the water the faster the heat loss. In icy cold water, Hypothermia may occur in less than 30 minutes. See the Field Care Chart for methods of treatment.

Wind Chill: natural movement of air, under conditions of low temperatures, causing a cooling effect on exposed flesh. Cooling increases very dramatically from wind speeds of 5 to 40 mph. Winds become increasingly bitter as temperature drops. Above 40 mph, wind speeds have little additional chilling effect. Get out of the wind when it is very cold. Keep all areas of the flesh covered with layers of clothing. Wear a warm face mask, goggles, hat, and heavy gloves, lf you must travel in the open, carry a shovel or board along side your head to break the wind. Follow the natural wind breaks for your protection. Should the chill become too great, look for or make anything to break the wind. Examples include natural holes, hollow logs, trees, snowdrifts, snow pits, trenchs, boulders, old buildings, junk cars, roadside ditches, stone walls, lean-tos, or other make-shift simple shelters.

Winter Storms: heavy snows, ice storms, freezing rain, sleet, and blizzards that occur during winter. Listen to daily weather forecasts for storm warnings. Anticipate when roads may become slippery or blocked. Assume that there may be electric power and telephone failures. Be prepared for isolation by stocking a reserve supply of food, water, heating fuel, and other essential supplies. Avoid over exertion when shoveling snow. Travel only when it is essential. Travel with a passenger or in convoy with another vehicle. Keep a winter survival kit in your car to include shovel, sand, windshield scraper, flashlight, extra batteries, a reserve of gasoline (in a safe container), blankets, gloves, headgear, boots, and heavy clothing. See the Blizzard and Wind Chill sections for additional details.