Cold Weather Survival.....

[BillShenk]

Sitting here looking out the window at the snow has me thinking of cold weather/winter survival tips. A lot of my limited experience is from time spent in temperate areas, where there may be a short "winter" season, with most of the year being above the 50* mark. My cold weather survival experience is limited to living in Pennsylvania during the winter.

Some things I can come up with right off the top of my head:

Urban/Indoor
-For efficiency, a well-insulated house is nice. In the summer, it keeps the heat of the day from creeping in too much. In the winter, it holds off the cold from outside using less energy from whatever you heat with. You can go overboard, though. You want some ventilation. Keep unused living spaces closed off. An old farmer's trick was to frame a door into the top of the stairway of a two-story house, and once the weather turned cold, they'd simply move the family downstairs and close the upstairs off until springtime.

-Cooking: If you've got a stove or range that runs off of natural gas or propane, you're set. If you've got an electric range, you should consider a secondary means of cooking food, like a gas or charcoal grill, or one of those little propane-powered camping stoves. Its important to cook with a grill outside, so as not to induce an oxygen shortage inside your living space. Even with one of the aforementioned camp stoves, you should crack a window to let air in and fumes out. An indoor gas or propane oven also doubles as a heat source when used for cooking.

-Power: Ideally, the power will stay on indefinitely. But, it isn't perfect, and ice storms and heavy snows do cause outages from time to time. A generator is the best route to go, but they are expensive themselves, require fuel to operate for very long, and are noisy. This makes them a less-than-ideal choice for a lot of people. They also won't power your entire home without being wired into the breaker panel using an automatic transfer switch or a "suicide cord". A battery powered radio will provide entertainment and news. Flashlights and headlamps can provide personal lighting. Oil lamps are also good, but again, be mindful of ventilation. Candles work for lighting, but pose a fire hazard. For a lot of people, the power going out is the worst-case scenario.

-Heat: In the northeast, a lot of homes are dependant on oil for heat. Oil furnaces require electricity to both ignite the fuel, pump it to the furnace from the tank, and blow the warm air from the furnace into the house.
Alternatives include kerosene heaters (ventilation, again) and wood and coal stoves. I have two Kerosene heaters myself, with ten gallons of fuel for each stove. They serve as a backup to my oil furnace and heat pump (which also operates off of electricity). I've only had to use them to heat my house once, and they are relatively inexpensive. "Peace of mind" has a price all it's own, in my opinion. The ones I have will run 16 hours on one gallon of fuel. If you have small children, keep them away from kerosene heaters. They're better now than they used to be, with guards around the areas that get hot, but kids are kids.

-Food: In a power outage, the food in a freezer will stay good for days if you aren't in and out of the freezer constantly. The best course of action in my mind, when considering an extended power outage, is to eat the stuff from the refrigerator first. Leftovers, lunch meats, stuff like that. Not only does that keep that food from going bad or unused, it keeps you out of your freezer, so that that food will still be there if you need it later.

Vehicles/On The Road:
The intelligent thing to do if there is a storm coming your way is to stay in a sheltered location where it is warm and you have food available; home, work, etc. Situations don't always work the way they should, and you never know when you'll get stuck somewhere. In the winter time, in my work trucks, I add a change of warm clothes, a dozen or so bottles of water, a few MREs, and a single-burner propane camp stove. I put this in a platic cargo box, so it is easily movable between one truck to the other. In the wife's SUV, I have another cargo box with warm clothing, water, and snack foods for each family member.

If you get stuck along a road, stay in your vehicle. Keep a window cracked for ventilation, preferably one away from blowing snow or wind. Make sure that your tailpipe isn't blocked with snow, and run your vehicle every hour or so to keep the interior warm and comfortable. Tie a rag around your antenna, so that people who may be able to help will know that you need it. Like always, stay cool, relax, and chill out. Aggravation doesn't help in any situation. Keep a clear head.

I saw an episode of "I shouldn't Be Alive" on the discovery channel last weekend. A young couple with a baby were driving from California to Wyoming or Idaho to attend a funeral, and got caught in a storm in Nevada, IIRC. They ended up leaving a main road, trying to shorten their trip by driving through a national park that they didn't realize was closed for the winter. Long story short, they get get a 4wd truck stuck out in the middle of nowhere, and walk towards where they were going. I'd think that walking back to where you came from would have been a better idea, because you'd at least have your own tire tracks to follow, rather than blindly wlking forward into unfamiliar territory.

Speaking of four-wheel drive vehicles- They're nice, but they aren't the gift from heaven some people seem to think they are. They aren't safe to drive 80mph on snow and ice covered roads like some folks think they are. "four wheel drive" doesn't mean "four wheel stop faster". I've seen 4wds backed into ditches that needed pulled out. I'e seen 4wds "high centered" on snow, so that one front tire and one rear tire were off the ground- you'll go nowhere like that, unless you've got locking differentials, and thats another topic. All three of our vehicles are 4wd. If you drive them like any other car in the snow, you'll be fine. "Slow and steady". One thing I do like about the vehicles we have (my Expedition and F250, her Explorer) is that they are all big, heavy, body-on-frame vehicles. The weight helps in the snow, and the full frame makes it more likely to survive a collision.

Outdoors
If you're going outdoors in cold weather, layer your clothing. Several thinner layers will keep you just as warm (and be lighter) than one big layer. If you're doing any kind of physical activity, be mindful to not over-exert yourself. Try not to work up a sweat. Keep your lips dry to avoid getting them chapped. If you get stuck outdoors overnight in the winter, a lean-to shelter built from branches with pine boughs for roofing will keep you out of the weather. Build it with the opening away from the wind. A fire in the opening will keep you warm and comfortable overnight.

Maybe some of our Canadian members can add some input. This is all just rambling off the top of my head.

[SARAN]

good advise, but you forgot to mention to take your boots off if you have a sleeping bag so that your body can breath.

[Carnageman]

Originally Posted by SARAN

good advise, but you forgot to mention to take your boots off if you have a sleeping bag so that your body can breath.

Isn't that pretty much common sense? Hard to believe anyone would crawl into a sleeping bag wearing a pair of muddy boots.

[BillShenk]

I never thought of the boot thing, but it makes sense, and it's a good way to keep from sleeping in mud and dirt.

[SteelRaven]

I hear of some people wearing their boots to bed because they think it's too cold to take the off, why Brooks put it in WWZ.

Allot of this stuff I know but I know a few people who don't, I may just stat e-mailing them links to Bills post till Loktar get that Survival sit up and running.

[BillShenk]

That's fine with me.

[Carnageman]

Originally Posted by SteelRaven

I hear of some people wearing their boots to bed because they think it's too cold to take the off, why Brooks put it in WWZ.

Allot of this stuff I know but I know a few people who don't, I may just stat e-mailing them links to Bills post till Loktar get that Survival sit up and running.

Wait, loktar's still working on that?

[SteelRaven]

Originally Posted by Carnageman

Wait, loktar's still working on that?

I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.

[Szuran]

I think cold environment is the BEST environment to survive a zombie outbreak in. They would freeze, right? And people - the actual, living, breathing, THINKING people - have survived ages in cold regions, so I think I'd live quite comfy if I only had some wood and an axe.

[Iamsoilborn]

One winter it was one hell of blizzard when we got snowed in for two weeks with power out for three days till we got the generator kicking. That winter I remember us running this gig often. Or It would be me and my grandfather with a cup of coffee, having me split wood and we bring it into the old wood stove in the den (it was a fire place really, but it just looked like a wood stove to me.

We would be using old frying pans and cooking food on that thing too, due to the fact that well even though their was gas my grandfather didn't wanna try and spark it manually because he admited it was a shotty oven in the kitchen that was 40 years old...

So as my grandparents house was retro and couzy at any other time, except when your freezeing your ass off for a 5 days camping out in the living room because the damn kerosene heater broke down, which my grandfather later discovered but with no spare part around, and a few others needed...and snowed in. Sure we tryed to plow out the snow with our truck but it would only go so far. I remember alot because my grandfather has always had a bad back, and when it bothered him he made use of his grandkids he was toughing up. So I was my grandad's little helper, I got some zingers to tell about that old man.

Yup that winter I think I chopped enough wood to build enough make shift barricades to hold off an onslaught of zeds.

Although that winter I picked up hunting skills from my grandfather I also picked some up from my uncle who hunted, and my grandfather a good woodsman and jack of all trades. when we would go hiking in the winter and wearing layers was really vital I would be in carhardt overalls with a layer of long johns, a regular tee shirt, then a fleece sweater, then the carhardts, the thick coat, I also had a jump suit for snow but hunting it would need more mobility. One winter we hiked up in the back to a lake that we could fish in and were outside, my uncle and grandfather sitting on the open ice in the freezing cold in lawn chairs, blankets over us ice fishing. we sat out there from first light till about high noon, then hiked back to the house, warmed up for an hour, drank cold water, didn't eat anything warm just sandwitches, my grandfather told me it was to keep our body temperture acoustomed to the cold, that ingesting warm fluids or food would make you feel alot colder.

I still practice this method when it gets cold here in florida...which outside it's twenty degrees where I am at, now thats not quite as cold it would seem, but here is a wet damp cold, people get brochitis and nemoanion "I know I spelled it wrong" it's kept me pretty good with the weather changes that have been going on here as well, being hot as hell for two three days, then wam the next week is fucking forties,thirties at night, while staying at 50 most of the time besides that...

And the biggest bitch is there is no snow to look at, betcha I would do good in the fucking dry cold still.

Now my tolerance to cold has weakened but that's due to my blood thining out over the years.

Sorry this was alot of jumping around, I've been dying to be on the forum's again but I am working on the game as well