The Survival Guide › Winter Storms and Extreme Cold
❄Winter Storms and Extreme Cold
Winter storms kill mostly indirectly: on the roads, on the shovel, and from what people burn to keep warm.
What actually kills people. The direct danger is hypothermia, but the larger toll comes from traffic collisions, heart attacks during snow clearing, and carbon monoxide from heaters, stoves and generators brought inside. Nearly a hundred Americans a year die of CO poisoning from portable generators alone.
Before
- Insulate pipes on outside walls, and know where the stopcock is.
- Keep the car above half a tank through the winter, with a blanket, water and a shovel in the boot.
- Have a way to stay warm that does not need the grid, and make sure it is one you can run safely indoors.
- Fit a carbon monoxide alarm with a battery. Every floor.
During
- Stay off the roads. Most winter storm deaths happen in vehicles.
- Dress in layers and keep dry — wet clothing strips heat many times faster than cold air alone.
- Let taps drip on outside walls to keep pipes from bursting.
- Never heat a house with a gas oven, a barbecue or a generator. Not with the windows open, not for a few minutes.
- Shovel in stages and stop if your chest tightens. Cold plus exertion is a well-documented cardiac trigger.
After
- Check the roof load if snow is deep and wet, especially on flat sections.
- Look in on neighbours who may have lost heat.
- Watch for frostbite on the extremities: white or greyish skin, numbness, a waxy feel. Warm gradually, never with direct heat.
- Clear vents and flues of snow before relighting anything.
The thing people get wrong
“Cracking a window makes an indoor generator or heater safe.”
It does not. The CPSC is unambiguous: opening doors and windows does not provide enough ventilation to prevent lethal carbon monoxide building up. Generators belong outdoors only, at least twenty feet from the house, with the exhaust pointed away from windows, doors and vents — not in a garage, not in a carport, not on a porch.
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Sources: National Weather Service, FEMA, CDC and CPSC. Informational only, and no substitute for what your local emergency services tell you on the day — when officials say go, go.