Needless to say, power outages at any time of year suck. You lose the ability to watch Netflix, or charge your phone and tablet, or even have light enough to read a book after sundown. This is one of life’s little obstacles that I’ve talked about. Recently, there have been some power outages due to winter weather around the world, and it seemed like an ideal time to review the tips and tricks of dealing with them.
First things first, there are some upsides to winter power outages. You don’t have to worry about food spoiling, which is a HUGE plus. As the temperature drops indoors, the food in your fridge and freezer will be perfectly fine, unless of course you have nonelectric forms of heating your home. In this case, the best option is to build a snow fridge/freezer. Basically just dig out a pit in a snow drift, and place your food, well wrapped, in the pit. Make sure to cover the opening with something heavy to prevent animals from eating your food. If you don’t have snow, but are in freezing temps, then you can use any kind of container with a lid, and simply place it outdoors. Also, for sustenance, you can eat cold soup or cold noodles, if that’s your only option. Most everything you eat hot, other than uncooked meats, can be eaten cold. It may not taste the best, but it will provide much needed nutrition. Just an FYI, you need double the calories or more to sustain yourself when stressed and fighting exposure to temperature extremes, more so if you have to cut wood or do physical activity at the same time.
You also don’t have to worry about sourcing water if your pipes are frozen or you are on well water. As for water, there is a ready source of it all around you, including snow and ice. The issue is that you need to melt this, preferably boiling it to clean it, before you can consume it. The best option would be to fill some buckets or your bathtub with clean, fresh water, prior to the power outage if you know that inclement weather is coming. Unfortunately, majority of the time, there are no warnings prior to a power outage. This means that having the easy options ready is simply not possible. Here is where being a prepper, or even a casual camper, will come in handy. How do you cook food when camping? You use a propane stove or barbeque to heat your food. These appliances can be used for melting and boiling water, as well as cooking. As long as you have a heat source, even an outdoor fire pit or woodstove, you have an easily accessible source of water. If you have to, you can even just melt snow over a candle. It’s not going to boil it, and it won’t be fast, but at least it’ll be water.
Now for the downsides, of which there are quite a few. The biggest concern comes back to the rule of threes. The second of these rules is three hours without shelter. Unfortunately this also includes exposure to the cold. Within approximately three hours, severe hypothermia will set in, and you are well on your way to a medical emergency. This is when those of us with a woodstove, or who live in colder climates regularly, are better prepared to handle the cold. This includes nonelectric heat sources, proper outerwear, and wool socks (at least in my case). In less cold climates, such as Florida, Texas, or South France, most people do not have these things at the ready. Simply put, they don’t usually need them.
So what do you do when you are ill prepared for winter conditions and a power outage? To put it simply, you make do. Wearing layers helps, so layer up your long sleeve shirts and sweaters, layer up your socks, and wear a hat indoors. If you don’t have a winter hat or ear warmer, just wear a couple fabric headbands or even wrap a scarf around your head. The two parts of your body that will lose heat the fastest are your head and your feet. Use anything you have to layer up. If you have blankets, wrap up in them, use your spring coats or even foil emergency blankets. If the single layer is not suited for the temperature, adding multiple together will account for that. The other best way to preserve heat is through body heat. No, I don’t mean snuggle sessions, so get your head out of the gutter. I mean that you should choose a room and have the whole family, pets included, sleep in here; even if you’re sleeping on the floor. You should tape blankets or curtains to the windows, roll a blanket or stuff pillows into the crease under the door. The room you choose should be big enough for everyone, and ideally wouldn’t have any windows or exterior walls. Now I know this is not really realistic in most homes, so choose a room with only one external wall and only one window. If you have a basement, choose a room down here, because the earth will provide some extra insulation to the area, keeping in any heat you can accumulate.
Another tip is to use a tent and sleeping bags. I know this will call to mind playing at camping as children, but it serves a purpose when trying to preserve heat. By staying in a tent inside a home, you create a micro climate, and are trapping the body heat in a much smaller space, allowing it to remain warmer. Remember, tents and sleeping bags are made to withstand the outdoors, so they can tolerate cooler temperatures than we think. Just think about the layering I was talking about earlier, you’re layering up your rooms between you and the outdoors. For example, say it’s -15 deg C outdoors, you’re room will likely be -5 to -10 deg C, but inside the tent, you’re now at around 0 deg C, making it that much more comfortable, and safer, for you.
From a medical standpoint, it’s impossible to worry about other issues when the basics of survival aren’t guaranteed. Once these are taken care of, food, water and shelter from exposure, you need to take stock of yourself physically. Are you shivering? Are you losing feeling in nose, fingers or toes? Are you hallucinating? These are the most common symptoms of frost bite and hypothermia. Humans are adept at tolerating mild levels of hypothermia, but it will cause the blood to be shunted to the major organs, putting your extremities at risk of losing circulation. This eventually leads to frost bite, but don’t worry, mild cases can be reversed by slowing reheating the affected area. Remove restricting clothing from the area, and utilize steam and heat sources, including body heat, to warm up the area. Shivering is your body’s way of trying to warm up, and will help prevent worsening hypothermia. The time you need to worry is when the shivering stops, unless of course you have found a source of heat. Hallucinating and mental fog is a sure sign of severe hypothermia. You need to seek medical attention for this, and if not possible, you need to help the person warm up, inside and out. Best options include drinking warm beverages and eating warm food, adding more layering, body heat, and place the person as close as possible to the heat source.
So to sum it all up, get layers, keep warm, and watch for signs or cold exposure illnesses. Above it all, just use what you have. Even a single candle can provide a little bit of heat. To anyone experiencing this first hand, keep safe and stay healthy. Sincerely yours, Prepping Medically.
As always, feel free to leave and comment or question below. Also feel free to contact me using the link below.
A few weeks ago, when we had lost power for two days, I had gathered bowls of snow and put them in the fridge to keep the temperature low. It worked well, just like ice in a cooler when camping. My Coleman prophane stove is worth gold when the power goes out. A hot meal and a tea is comforting after a day of shoveling in frigid temperatures.
Growing up with cold winters, I’m used to dealing with what they bring, but I know many don’t have this advantage. Your post touched on many important topics people should give attention to.