# 5096
Although I’m a 2nd generation Floridian, I spent 10 years living in the backwoods of Missouri. Thankfully, the statute of limitations expired, and in 2005 I was finally able to return to my home state.
My back-to-the land decade taught me many things. I learned how to fell trees, how to split and stack cords of wood every summer, and how to maintain and operate a wood furnace.
But most of all . . . I learned to appreciate the comparatively mild winters in Florida.
For those who live outside of tropical climes, preparing for winter should be a yearly routine. The hazards that come with cold weather are considerable.
Hypothermia, carbon monoxide poisoning, heating-related house fires, falls on icy walkways, cold-stress heart attacks, snow blower mishaps, car accidents due to inclement weather . . . the list is long.
Winter, quite simply, claims a lot of lives each year, although the exact number is subject to considerable debate. According to the SDR’ Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction.
. . . two different datasets of weather-related mortality report opposite findings. One dataset (the National Climatic Data Center’s Storm Data) records more heat-related deaths per year than cold-related deaths, whereas another dataset (the National Center for Health Statistics Compressed Mortality Database) records the opposite, with nearly four times the number of cold-related deaths than heat-related deaths.
One of the factors that helps tip the scales towards cold related morbidity and mortality are winter weather influenced vehicular accidents. Again from the SDR report.
Weather information providers and consumers have
not embraced a probabilistic approach to these
forecasting challenges that would help significantly
decrease the nearly 7,000 deaths, 600,000 injuries, and 1.4 million accidents a year that occur due to adverse winter driving conditions, by extending winter weather watch and warning lead times.
Something I saw with disturbing regularity as a paramedic was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Faulty furnaces, snow blocked car exhaust pipes, attempts to use generators inside the house or garage . . . and the use of CO producing emergency heat sources all contribute to the winter body count.
The CDC’s MMWR released a report in 2005 called Unintentional Non--Fire-Related Carbon Monoxide Exposures --- United States, 2001—2003 that stated:
During 2001--2003, an estimated 15,200 persons with confirmed or possible non--fire-related CO exposure were treated annually in hospital EDs. In addition, during 2001--2002, an average of 480 persons died annually from non--fire-related CO poisoning. Although males and females were equally likely to visit an ED for CO exposure, males were 2.3 times more likely to die from CO poisoning. Most (64%) of the nonfatal CO exposures occurred in homes. Efforts are needed to educate the public about preventing CO exposure.
Accordingly, FEMA and the CDC have a winter safety and preparedness websites, filled with useful preparedness information.
First from FEMA.
Winter Storms and Extreme Cold
Heavy snowfall and extreme cold can immobilize an entire region. Even areas that normally experience mild winters can be hit with a major snowstorm or extreme cold. Winter storms can result in flooding, storm surge, closed highways, blocked roads, downed power lines and hypothermia.
How can I protect myself from winter storms and extreme cold?
And this from the CDC.
Extreme Cold: A Prevention Guide to Promote Your Personal Health and Safety
The Extreme Cold Prevention Guide combines all of the key content of the CDC Winter Weather website into one downloadable, printable file. Printing this PDF file ensures that you will have important winter weather health and safety information available even when you're without power or Internet service.
Although the PDF is not Section 508-compliant, all content in the PDF is available in a 508-compliant HTML version on this site. Links to those HTML versions are provided below.
Download the Prevention Guide
- Extreme Cold Prevention Guide
(3.45 MB/15 pages)
List of Webpages Included in the Prevention Guide:
It doesn’t take an earthquake or a hurricane to quickly plunge you and your family into a survival situation.
Every day threats . . . like severe thunderstorms, summer heat waves, and wintery blasts of weather . . . can all create hazards that can threaten your health and safety.
With winter closing in, today would be a good day to review and update your emergency plans.
Some resources to get you started on the road to `all threats’ preparedness include:
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm
READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/
AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/
And a few of my (many) preparedness essays include:
An Appropriate Level Of Preparedness
Inside My Bug Out Bag
Red Cross Unveils `Do More Than Cross Your Fingers’ Campaign
You can search this blog for more preparedness information by clicking this link.
