Article by Dawit Worku
This is once again that time of the year to bundle up and get our body as warm as possible. The media are calling for cold weather alert, to help those on the street get shelter, those drivers operate vigilantly and pedestrians pay attention to the changing weather. Ethiofidel.com has some tips for you to stay safe during this time of the year:
- Keep clothing clean Clothes matted with dirt and grease lose much of their insulation value. Heat can escape more easily from the body through the clothing’s crushed or filled up air pockets.
- Wear your clothing loose and in layers Several layers of lightweight clothing are better than one equally thick layer of clothing, because the layers have dead-air space between them. The dead-air space provides extra insulation. Also, layers of clothing allow you to take off or add clothing layers to prevent excessive sweating or to increase warmth.
- Keep clothing dry in cold temperatures, your inner layers of clothing can become wet from sweat and your outer layer, if not water repellent, can become wet from snow and frost melted by body heat. Wear water-repellent outer clothing, if available. It will shed most of the water collected from melting snow and frost. Before entering a heated shelter, brush off the snow and frost.
- be cautious walking on the ice and snow walk as slow as possible, choose the right kind of shoes, try ice grips, and don’t be ashamed to pick up walking sticks.
For drivers:
If you are stopped by heavy snow, you could be in a serious situation. You should probably stay with your vehicle unless you know for sure that you are near help and you can hike through the snow. Here are some things to do to summon help and keep yourself and your passengers safe:
- Turn on your hazard flashers.
- Tie a red cloth to your vehicle to alert police that you’ve been stopped by the snow.
- Put on extra clothing or wrap a blanket around you. If you have no blankets or extra clothing, make body insulators from newspapers, burlap bags, rags, floor mats — anything you can wrap around yourself or tuck under your clothing to keep warm.
- Run your engine only as long as you must. This saves fuel. When you run the engine, make it go a little faster than just idle. That is, push the accelerator slightly. This uses less fuel for the heat that you get and it keeps the battery charged. You will need a well-charged battery to restart the vehicle, and possibly for signaling later on with your headlamps.
- Let the heater run for a while. Then, shut the engine off and close the window almost all the way to preserve the heat. Start the engine again and repeat this only when you feel really uncomfortable from the cold. But do it as little as possible. Preserve the fuel as long as you can.
- Get out of the vehicle and do some fairly vigorous exercises every half hour or so until help comes.
- Safe winter.
Source: GM Canada, Discovery Channel, The daily mail
