Exposure to cold temperatures, whether indoors or outdoors, can cause serious or life-threatening health problems. Learn how to prevent cold-related health problems after exposure to keep you and your family.
What is Extreme Cold?
Temperatures near 32F or below are considered “extreme cold”. Whenever temperatures drop heat leaves your body more rapidly, especially if the winds increase. This loss of heat may lead to serious health problems such as hypothermia or frostbite.
Plan Ahead
Make a winter survival kit for your home:
- Include foods that needs no cooking or refrigeration, such as bread, crackers, cereal, canned foods, and dried fruits. You should have enough food to last 3 days.*
- Have water stored in clean containers, or purchased bottled water. You should have at least 1 gallon of water per person per day with enough to last a few days*.
- Any medicines your family may need. An emergency can make it difficult for them to refill their prescription or to find an open pharmacy. Organize and protect your prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, and vitamins to prepare for an emergency. You can keep over the counter medications such as pain relievers, anti-diarrhea medication, antacids or laxatives in your survival kit.
- Consider an alternate way to heat your home during a power failure.
- Blankets or sleeping bags
- Matches
- Multipurpose, dry-chemical fire extinguisher
- First aid kit and instruction manual
- Flashlight or battery-powered lantern
- Battery-powered radio
- Battery-powered clock or watch
- Extra batteries
- Non-electric can opener
- Snow shovel
- Rock salt
- Special needs items such as diapers, hearing aid batteries, feminine supplies, personal hygiene items, and pet food.
*If your area is prone to long periods of cold temperatures, or if your home is isolated, stock additional amounts of food, water, and medicine.
For more information on building an Emergency Kit click here.
Prepare your home for winter:
- Winterize your home.
- Install weather stripping, insulation, and storm windows.
- Insulate water lines that run along exterior walls.
- Clean out gutters and repair roof leaks.
- Check your heating systems.
- Have your heating system serviced professionally to make sure that it is clean, working properly, and ventilated to the outside.
- Inspect and clean fireplaces and chimneys.
- Install a smoke detector. Test batteries monthly and replace them twice a year.
- Have a safe alternate heating source and alternate fuels available.
- Prevent carbon monoxide (CO) emergencies.
- Install a CO detector to alert you of the presence of the deadly, odorless, colorless gas. Check batteries when you change your clocks in the fall and spring.
- Learn symptoms of CO poisoning: headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion.
Prepare your car for winter:
- Have maintenance service on your vehicle as often as the manufacturer recommends.
- Have the radiator system serviced, or check the antifreeze level yourself with an antifreeze tester. Add antifreeze, as needed.
- Replace windshield-wiper fluid with a wintertime mixture.
- Replace any worn tires, and check the air pressure in the tires.
- Blankets
- First aid kit
- Waterproof matches
- Windshield scraper
- Booster cables
- Tool kit
- Paper towels
- Bag of sand (to pour on ice or snow for added traction)
- Tire chains
- Collapsible shovel
- Container of water and high-calorie canned or dried foods
- Flashlight and extra batteries
Heat your home safely:
- When using a space heater, keep anything that can burn including curtains, bedding, and clothing, at least 3 feet away. Remember to turn off space heaters when leaving a room or going to bed. Use space heaters that have an automatic shutoff so if they tip over, they turn off.
- When using a fireplace, keep a glass or metal screen in front of it to prevent sparks and embers from jumping out. Put the fire out before you go to sleep or leave your home.
- Never use an oven to heat your home.
- Heating Your Home Safely Flyer: English / Español
- Space Heater Safety Flyer
Extreme Cold and Effects on Health
Hypothermia
- When exposed to cold temperatures, your body begins to lose heat faster than it can be produced
- Prolonged exposure to cold will eventually use up your body’s stored energy
- Low body temperature may make you unable to think clearly or move well
Who’s most at risk?
- Older adults with inadequate food, clothing, or heating
- Babies sleeping in cold bedrooms
- People who remain outdoors for long periods—the homeless, hikers, hunters, etc.
- People who drink alcohol or use illicit drugs.
What are the Warning Signs?
- Shivering, exhaustion
- Confusion, fumbling hands
- Memory loss, slurred speech
- Drowsiness
- Bright red, cold skin
If you notice any of these signs, take the person’s temperature. If it is below 95° F, the situation is an emergency—get medical attention immediately.
Frostbite
- Frostbite is a bodily injury caused by freezing that results in loss of feeling and color in affected areas.
- It most often affects the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers, or toes.
- Frostbite can permanently damage the body, and severe cases can lead to amputation.
Who’s most at risk?:
- Have poor blood circulation
- Are not properly dressed for extremely cold temperatures
What are the Warning Signs?
- Awhite or grayish-yellow skin area
- Skin that feels unusually firm or waxy
- Numbness
- Frostbite is a bodily injury caused by freezing that results in loss of feeling and color in affected areas.
- It most often affects the nose, ears, cheeks, chin, fingers, or toes.
- Frostbite can permanently damage the body, and severe cases can lead to amputation.
- If you see or feel symptoms of frostbite, seek medical care.
Additional Resources