With colder weather on the way, Winter and extreme cold can present unique potential challenges. Taking a little bit of time to learn things like how to drive in snow, what to do if you fall through ice if you were out walking near a lake or just want some simple helpful tips to help you stay weather aware throughout the colder periods.
The point of this isnât to memorize this article. The point is to understand and help without trying to teach you to suck eggs.
Firstly, Protect your body heat. Protect it, trap it, and treat it like the precious resource it is. Always keep covered. Wind and exposed areas are somewhat your enemy. Exposed skin accelerates heat loss, especially through wind.
You are a walking space heater. One of the most important things you can remember in any cold situation is to take advantage of your body heat â keep it trapped against your body so it canât escape, and protect it from the outside cold thatâs trying to steal that precious thermal energy.
This is why clothing layers are so important. They trap your body heat in the air beneath the clothing layers and protect it from being stolen by the outside.
The value of multiple layers and insulation isnât 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 â namely, exposure to the elements, wind, and skin contact with water (including sweat).
Though itâs advisable to stay warm, try to avoid sweating and stay dry. Besides moisture loss, sweating is bad because water on your skin makes you colder. Thatâs why we sweat to begin with â itâs the bodyâs air conditioning system.
Avoid eating snow. You lose a lot of core heat by melting snow inside your body. Melt it outside your body instead.
Alcohol does not warm you. Sorry, Russia!
Hydrate. Severe cold can be just as dangerous as severe heat. Stay hydrated.
Donât travel unless you have to. Conserve energy, Stay where youâre most likely to be found. 
Hypothermia and frostbite are the real dangers. Even in 10c temperatures, youâre at risk of losing too much core and limb heat. Depending on conditions, you can become hypothermic in as little as a few minutes.
Your body shivers to create warmth. Normally you can override that impulse with your willpower, but once you canât stop it anymore, thatâs your bodyâs way of telling you something is super wrong.
One of the scariest things about hypothermia is that itâs difficult to self-diagnose. The line between simply being cold and hypothermic depends on things like mental clarity. If youâre 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, canât do basic hand gestures
Confusion, incoherence, slurred speech, irrational thoughts and behavior
Change in attitude and unreasonably irritable behavior
Where hypothermia is about your internal temperature dropping, frostbite is more about your external cells.
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. Similar to crops that die from a sudden freeze.
Thatâs why 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. Partly due to distance, and partly because your body will protect its core organs by constricting blood vessels further away.
Without the internal heat to fight back against the external cold, the cells lose the battle. A 0c temperature with light winds can cause frostbite in just 30 minutes.
Frostbite symptoms:
Numbness
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
Beyond the basics, itâs important not to yo-yo back and forth with frostbite. You can cause even worse damage if you warm a frozen area and then let it freeze again.
Here are a few steps to help if you start to suffer with frostbite:
Remove wet clothing.
Elevate slightly the injured area.
Start warming by soaking the area in warm water, and stop when the skin becomes soft.
Cover area with sterile medical cloth if possible. If frostbite has affected fingers and or toes, wrap each digit individually. Keep them separated.
Try not to move or use the damaged area at all.
Do not rub frostbitten areas because rubbing could cause tissue damage.
Dress in layers. The air trapped between each layer holds your body heat, like your own personal hot tub. Plus, layers give you better control over regulating body heat so you can avoid dangerous sweating.
If you do end up in a situation or see someone in trouble dial 999. I would also recommend downloading and using what3words are this is an amazing app which would help the emergency services know exactly where you are. https://what3words.com/
KEEPING WARM AT HOME
It's important to keep your home warm to avoid health problems. Ideally your home and those of elderly relatives or neighbours should be heated to at least 18C.
The cold weather can have an impact to health as the cold air thickens blood and increases blood pressure, and breathing in cold air can increase the risk of chest infections. So itâs all the more important to ensure your home and the homes of people you look out for are the right temperature.
This is particularly important if you have reduced mobility, are 65 or over, or have a health condition, such as heart or lung disease. Having room temperatures slightly over 18 °C could be good for your health.
If you are under the age of 65, active and wearing appropriate clothing, you may wish to keep your home at a comfortable temperature even if it is slightly lower than 18°C.
Overnight, people who are 65 and over or who have pre-existing health conditions may find bedroom temperatures of at least 18 °C are good for their health; this may be less important if you are a healthy adult under 65 and have appropriate clothing and bedding.
It is important to keep your bedroom window closed at night when the weather is cold.
KEEPING SAFE ON THE ROADS
Stay one step ahead of the cold weather by carrying out a few checks on your vehicle before your next journey. Itâs critical that you check your tyre tread and pressure.
Remember that well-maintained tyres are vital to give you traction and grip on icy, wet surfaces. Your carâs recommended tyre pressure can be found either in your carâs manual or inside the driverâs door.
Secondly, Check your wiper blades. In winter your windscreen can get a very dirty from rain, snow, ice and road salt. Maintaing good visibility is always imperative so check your wipers are doing the job by spraying some washer fluid and checking they clean the windscreen. Then get out of the car and run your fingers along the length of the the blades to check for splits. Itâs recommended to change wiper blades every 12 months.
Put together a basic winter car kit with a few items to make sure youâre ready when cold weather hits.
YOUR WINTER CAR KIT SHOULD INCLUDE:
Ice scraper and de-icer
Jump leads
Reflective warning triangle â ideally two
Sunglasses
In-car phone charger â and a portable battery charger
Blanket
Donât travel if you can help it. Certainly donât go out in nasty winter conditions if you donât have the basic winter car kit supplies.
Give yourself more time. Many accidents happen when people are careless or in a hurry.
Drive more defensively. Assume other people are horrible drivers. Leave more space between cars.
Look in your rear view mirrors when stopped, in case someone is going to slide into your rear.
Keep your low beam lights on. Avoid high beams because they create glare.
Brake sooner and more gradually, especially on slopes.
If you have to go up a steep but straight hill, build controlled momentum at the base and try not to stop mid-way.
If you feel like youâre slipping backwards down a scary hill, try to put the car sideways into the shoulder/ditch before you pick up too much speed.
Donât break while turning. Slow down before the turn, then turn.
Accelerate gradually so you donât spinout.
Try to avoid complete stops. Donât roll through stop signs, but do slow to a roll before the red light or stop sign so you can keep up the momentum.
Use the engine to help control your speed. Start from stops in second gear â your tires will move more slowly, which boosts traction.
The reason some bridges have ice warning signs is because the underside of the bridge is exposed to the air, which makes the road colder and more likely to freeze.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU LOSE CONTROL DRIVING ON SNOW?
It happens in a flash and you panic. How you react can make the difference between life and death.
The short answer: Steer the wheel towards the direction you want to go.
That sounds simple and silly, but a lot of people get it wrong in the moment. Youâre essentially keeping the wheels in the right direction so that if your tires suddenly get some traction, you are ready to take advantage of it.
CORRECTING AN UNDERSTEER SKID
Understeer skids happen when the front tires lose traction and your vehicle is unable to complete a turn. This usually happens when youâre going too fast around a corner.
To correct understeer, take your foot off the accelerator, gently apply the brakes and steer in the direction you want to go. This correction goes against natural instinct and takes considerable room to perform.
CORRECTING AN OVERSTEER SKID
Oversteer skids happen when the rear tires lose grip, making the back end start to slide sideways. Itâs called an oversteer because your nose has gone too far in the direction you were turning.
Donât jerk the wheel or you might fishtail
A counterskid can happen when you donât properly correct for oversteer. This is also known as fishtailing.
The key to recovering from a counterskid is to always use slight steering adjustments to keep your wheels pointed down the road in the direction of travel.
Learn how to brake properly while sliding
Youâve likely heard of anti-lock brakes, and most new cars have them. Brakes locking up during winter driving was a big hazard back in the day.
If you have ABS, apply firm, continuous pressure. This tells the car you want max braking power. You will probably feel a physical pulsing from the car. Thatâs OK, itâs the car pumping the brakes for you.
If you donât have ABS, you pump the brakes (a technique called âcadence brakingâ) when you feel the wheels locking up. The rhythm is similar to that of a heartbeat.
IF YOUR CAR IS STUCK IN THE SNOW
Getting a car unstuck from snow is mostly about improving traction and removing obstacles.
Your tires need something to grip onto, and oftentimes you only need to give just one of the powered tires more grip to get back on the road.
Start by turning the wheels as far side-to-side as you can. They might grab onto ground with more traction.
Rock the car by quickly shifting between forward and reverse. The idea is to drive an inch forward, two back, three forward, and so on, until you can build momentum to drive out.
Still stuck? Time to crack open the emergency kit and get out.
Clear snow from around your tires and under the chassis, bumpers, and other low-hanging parts (like the differential âpumpkinâ in the middle of the axles). The shovel or tools in your emergency kit will help.
Let a little air out of your tires to get more grip. This is why off-roading Jeeps âair downâ before venturing out on trails, because the more of the tireâs surface area touching ground, the better. You can use your keys or other tools to gently push in the middle of the air valve.
Add traction under/near the tires however possible. The best options should already be in your survival kit: traction mats, sand, or kitty litter. Donât have any? Try using your floor mats, small rocks, branches, or dirt.
Turn off traction control. Although it might sound counterintuitive, traction control helps you in slippery conditions on pavement, not when youâre stuck in snow. Youâll want drive tires turning if youâre trying to get unstuck.
Give it a little gas. Donât try to floor it. Let the tires grab with as little acceleration as possible. In automatic transmissions, shift to your lowest gear. In manual transmissions, use second or third gear and use the clutch to spin up the wheels.
You should have tow straps in your winter car kit, which means any passerby can help. If not, make the tow truck call, bundle up, and conserve heat.
I hope this guide helps you in some way. đ
Updated - Tuesday 28th November 2023 - 15:03