Winter Safety Tips: Plan For Extreme Weather

Wind chills are expected to drop to -25 to -30 degrees across Iowa this weekend, making now a good time to extreme cold safety tips.

A winter storm can cause extended power and heat outages in your home. Here are tips from MercyOne and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help you stay safe and comfortable in severe winter weather.

Hypothermia: Overexposure to cold temperatures or cold water can be deadly. Here are some tips for treating overexposure:

• Warning signs: confusion or sleepiness; slowed, slurred speech or shallow breathing; weak pulse or low blood pressure; a change in behavior; severe shivering or no shivering; poor control of body movements or slow reactions.
• What to do: Get the victim into a warm room or shelter; remove any wet clothing; warm the center of the body first – chest, neck, head, and groin – using an electric blanket if available; use skin-to-skin contact under loose, dry layers of blankets, clothing, or towels; give warm beverages; seek medical attention as soon as possible; if the victim is unconscious, CPR may be necessary.

Frostbite: A condition that occurs when body tissues freeze due to prolonged exposure to extremely low temperatures. It typically affects the extremities, such as fingers, toes, nose, and ears.

• Warning signs: A white or grayish-yellow area on the skin; skin that feels unusually firm or “waxy”; numbness.
• What to do: Get medical care; if there is no sign of hypothermia or medical care is unavailable, get the person into a warm room as soon as possible; do not walk or use frostbitten extremities; immerse the injured area in warm water; warm the injured area with body heat; don’t use a heating pad, heat lamp, or the heat from a stove, fireplace, or radiator, as injured areas can be quickly burned.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) Danger: CO poisoning is a significant concern during extreme cold weather because people use more CO-producing heating sources to keep warm. They may also idle cars loner and use gasoline electrical generators due to power outages caused by the cold. 

• Warning signs of CO exposure: fatigue in healthy people and chest pain in people with heart disease. At higher concentrations, impaired vision and coordination, headaches, dizziness, confusion, and nausea. Flu-like symptoms that diminish with exposure to fresh air are a warning sign. Exposure to very high concentrations can be fatal.
• Prevention: Keep gas appliances properly adjusted; use the correct fuel in space heaters; open flues when fireplaces are in use; do not idle a car in a garage; choose appropriately sized wood stoves; make sure doors on all wood stoves fit tightly; have a trained professional inspect, clean, and tune central heating systems; do not use kitchen appliances to heat your home; do not use outdoor grills for heating or cooking inside your home; do not run gas-powered generators in your home or near windows.

Plan an alternative heat source for your home during a power outage—secure dry wood for a fireplace or wood stove or kerosene for a kerosene heater.