The Woodsman's Journal Online: Winter Storms...the Deceptive Killers! ©

From Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, Volume 55, NOAA and the American Red Cross, HERE.

This week I was planning on writing a survival article about winter shelters and the 18^th century, for my friend Tom, but winter storm Elliott blew in, and since I live near Buffalo, plans changed. And while the storm is over now, the cleanup continues, and unfortunately the body count continues to creep up, so let’s talk about what to do next time a winter storm blows in!

Winter storm Elliott raged from December 21^st to the 26^th, killing at least 89 people, causing vehicle pileups, road closures and cancelling or delaying more than 10,000 flights during the busy Christmas travel time. It was a historic extratropical cyclone which brought blizzard conditions and winter storm to much of the United States and Canada. Now, most of us in North America experienced this storm in one way or another, but what exactly is an extratropical cyclone anyways?

Extratropical cyclones are sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones, or wave cyclones, and are large low-pressure areas, which, along with large high-pressure areas, known as anticyclones, drive much of Earth’s weather. Cyclones are large, low-pressure weather systems, that spread over at least 620 miles or 1,000 kilometers. These weather systems can cause anything from general cloudiness and mild showers to severe gales, thunderstorms, blizzards, and tornadoes. In contrast with tropical cyclones, extratropical cyclones produce rapid changes in temperature and dew point along broad lines, called weather fronts, about the center of the cyclone.

From Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, Volume 55.

Winter storms bring snow, sleet, or freezing rain, and they are all dangerous in their own way! Snow can simply be scattered flurries with no accumulation, or a squall or blizzard with high winds and several feet or more of accumulation. Sleet, which is frozen rain pellets, is usually more of an inconvenience than anything else, but if it accumulates it can make for treacherous travel. Freezing rain can lead to treacherous travelling conditions, and because of the weight of the ice on power lines and branches, it can cause power outages. And the high winds usually associated with severe winter storms, can blow down branches and trees, making travel dangerous and difficult, and making power outages even more likely.

Walking or driving...

A wreck due to snowy and slippery road conditions, from Freepik.com, HERE.

During severe winter storm conditions, i.e., heavy snow, high winds, or freezing rain, it doesn’t matter if you are walking or driving, travelling is a bad idea. The roads and the walkways are likely to be slippery and you might fall or have a car accident. So, unless it is life or death, and if you go out into the storm it might be, stay put and shelter in place!

An excerpt from "Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus", 1555, by Olaus Magnus, from Wikimedia, HERE.

But the real problem with winter storms is the wind. Wind can cause power outages, downed trees, and the blowing snow it carries along can reduce visibility and make travelling difficult, however the biggest problem with wind is windchill!

Windchill

Wind chill makes already cold temperatures FEEL even colder! That is because the wind steals away your body heat through convection. When there is little to no wind, a layer of warm remains around your body to help you stay warm. When it's windy, or breezy, the moving air blows away that insulating, warm layer, quickening your heat loss, and making you feel colder.

From Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, Volume 55, NOAA, and the American Red Cross.

So, next time there is a winter storm what should you do?

Be prepared...

First study these guides, starting with the first one, and then make some plans.

· Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, HERE.

· Winter Survival In Your Car, HERE.

· “Winter can be Hazardous to your Health”, HERE.

· “13 Essentials for your winter emergency car kit (+Checklist)”, HERE.

Stay tuned in

From Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, Volume 55, NOAA, and the American Red Cross.

Remember, a “warning” is more severe than a “watch”. A watch means that the conditions exist for bad weather, but you still have time to prepare. A warning means you need to seek shelter, NOW!

Dress in layers

If you must go out, or even if you are sheltering in place in your home, dress in several layers of lightweight clothes. Always wear a hat because you lose most of your heat from your head. And don’t forget your feet, wear waterproof, insulated boots to keep your feet dry and warm, and to help you keep your footing the snow and ice.

For more on layering read “Comfortably Cold, What’s That?©”, HERE.

From Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, Volume 55, NOAA, and the American Red Cross

Don’t overdo

If you overdo and get hurt, because of the storm, the EMTs will have a hard time getting to you and they might be to late. And as Les Stroud, the Survivorman says, if “You Sweat You Die”! So, if you must be out, remember to always stay “comfortably cold”!

10 Essentials of winter storm survival

There are two, possibly three, areas where you will want to keep some winter survival supplies, in your car, and possibly at your workplace if you use mass transit, and at your home. In your car, you should keep your critical survival supplies in the passenger compartment, close at hand, and the larger and bulkier items in your car’s trunk.

Unfortunately, the list to the right, is generally a very good list, but it is older, being first published in 1995, and gasoline antifreeze is no longer so important, as today, gasoline is made with up to 10% ethanol, and alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water. Additionally, gasoline by itself has a low freezing point, so it isn’t necessary. If you do have problems with frozen gas lines, you have water in your gas tank, and that is an entirely different problem.

This is a list of items that you should keep in the passenger compartment of your car. On this list, in my opinion, the garbage bag is one of the more important items. In fact, personally I recommend that you include two construction grade trash bags for every adult in the car and one for each child. This way if you are stuck in your car, everyone can make a trash bag emergency shelter, to help stay warm. For more on how to do this read, “Using your poncho or a trash bag as an Emergency Shelter ©”, HERE.

Some people keep GORP, some people keep pull-top cans of ready to eat foods, like canned peaches, some keep Pop-Tarts®, but I like Nutrilite™ Body-Key food bars the best. These bars are light, at only 1.8 ounces (50 grams), they are gluten free and have 150 calories, as well as being packed with protein and vitamins. Even better they taste great! For more on Nutrilite™ Body-Key food bars, read “A Survival Meal that Actually Tastes Good! ©”, HERE.

At home, you should always make sure that you have plenty of easy to eat foods, that don’t require cooking and just like in your car, at least a gallon of water per person, per day.

What to do

From Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, Volume 55, NOAA, and the American Red Cross

The best thing that you can do is stay PUT and shelter in place! Don’t try to travel during a storm, what with the low temperatures, windchill, and slippery conditions, it is just asking to be included on a list of storm casualties.

If you are outside, or trapped in your car, don’t forget the garbage bags that you brought with you in your survival pack, they can stop the wind from stealing your precious heat and help you stay warm.

An illustration by Jim Cobb, from “Winter Storm: Camp Inside to Survive Power Outages During Winter Storms”, HERE.

If you are at home and there is no power and you have a tent, put it up inside one of the least drafty rooms, so that you a have smaller space to warm up with your body heat. If you don’t have a tent prop up two mattresses (not box springs) like a pup tent and crawl inside the resulting shelter, the mattress are good insulators.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Pilot Biscuits...the Real, Deal Recipe ©”, where we will talk about how to make that Alaskan and wilderness adventure’s favorite hard bread, the Pilot Biscuit.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Minnesota Department of Public Safety; “Winter Survival In Your Car”, https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/educational-materials/Documents/Winter-Survival-Brochure.pdf, accessed December 29, 2022

NOAA and the American Red Cross, Winter Storms-- the Deceptive Killers: A Guide to Survival, Volume 55, https://books.google.com/books?id=lcVZGb_S6WQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=survival+winter&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEiYWhxYj8AhXtgnIEHRJnC0kQ6AF6BAgCEAI#v=onepage&q=survival%20winter&f=false, accessed December 29, 2022

Pantenberg, Leon; “Winter Storm: Camp Inside to Survive Power Outages During Winter Storms”, https://survivalcommonsense.com/camp-inside-2/, accessed December 29, 2022

Perry, Karl; “Winter can be Hazardous to your Health”, The Mobility Forum: The Journal of the Air Mobility Command, Jan/Feb 1995, pages 16 to 18, https://books.google.com/books?id=_cM_5pFKkDUC&pg=PA17&dq=survival+winter&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt_PDFkZv8AhWKEFkFHTf5Bf04FBDoAXoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=survival%20winter&f=false, accessed December29, 2022