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The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

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Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#51

Post by maxerickson »

waterlesscloud wrote: post #37
freehunter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can notice this effect in your life as well. I don't know where you live, but I know here in the north, 40F is "freezing" cold in November for many people. And when March rolls around, 40F is cause for breaking out the t-shirts. Your body will adapt to the cold to a certain degree. I think I saw it explained on a reddit "ask science" post some time ago, but I cannot remember the physiological details of these tem…

I wonder if it's physical or at least partially psychological. I live in Los Angeles and my brother lives in Flagstaff. Every year at the holidays, I go spend a week with him and his family. In Flagstaff there can be entire days below freezing and the nights can easily reach single digits F. When I'm there and it's 25 F, I'm fine. Toodle along like normal. Come back to LA and it's 50 and I shiver. Same outfits even.…

Could it be the humidity? Wet air usually feels colder.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#52

Post by freehunter »

mobweb wrote: post #39
freehunter wrote: post #8

Living in Michigan, this is one of my biggest fears. Due to the massive lakes that surround us, we frequently get a blast of warm, wet air that causes rain, and of course that warm wet air is being pushed off the lake by a cold front, causing high winds and sub-freezing temps. This combined with large stands of farmland and no trees for windrows means wind blows right across the road and freezes the rain instantly, s…

> no cell service, or the cell service is only for Verizon phones I remember reading somewhere that emergency calls can use any network.

While emergency calls must be routed even if you don't subscribe to a plan with the carrier of your phone, I'm not sure it would get through if you only have a GSM radio in your phone and the only tower nearby is a CDMA tower. Someone might correct me on that. Regardless, it will keep you from calling someone nearby that may be able to help without needing to call for emergency services.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#53

Post by dmor »

This topic makes me think of the Jack London story "To Build a Fire", which is one of my favorites. http://www.jacklondons.net/buildafire.html

Also timely, one of our power users at Referly just made a preparedness kit list for winter driving. I probably should have had some of this when driving alone in the Sierra Nevadas last month. http://refer.ly/winter_driving_preparedness_kit/c/789d5ae050...

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#54

Post by gonzo »

sanotehu wrote: post #27
shaydoc wrote: post #18

That was a fantastic read. Incredible journey to hypothermia and back. The description of the feeling of burning is unreal! What is even better is the incredible knowledge of how to revive a patient from this state. I belief these techniques are used in heart bypass operations ?

Yes, they are indeed. As a medical student I had the privilege of seeing a heart valve being installed. They are a witness to how far medicine has progressed since the days of barber surgeons. The blood is taken out of your body through the femoral vein (under the skin between your hip and your nether regions), taken through the perfusion machine and pumped back into the femoral artery. Because at this stage the hear…

As a medical student you'll appreciate that I have a 3-4" stint replacing a section of my aorta, starting about 1mm away from the aortic root.

This to repair an ascending aortic dissection that terminates in my left iliac.

I walked out of the hospital, but the recovery was a PITA.

My core temp got down to 18C (65-66F) for over an hour. (According to the surgical notes I was on the heart lung machine for over 4 hours, and without perfusion for 45 minutes.)

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#56

Post by shaydoc »

sanotehu wrote: post #27
shaydoc wrote: post #18

That was a fantastic read. Incredible journey to hypothermia and back. The description of the feeling of burning is unreal! What is even better is the incredible knowledge of how to revive a patient from this state. I belief these techniques are used in heart bypass operations ?

Yes, they are indeed. As a medical student I had the privilege of seeing a heart valve being installed. They are a witness to how far medicine has progressed since the days of barber surgeons. The blood is taken out of your body through the femoral vein (under the skin between your hip and your nether regions), taken through the perfusion machine and pumped back into the femoral artery. Because at this stage the hear…

Amazing, the knowledge acquired, distilled and shared to enable this is just wanted immense. My father had a major bypass op 6 years ago and I remember him saying how he felt when he first awoke after the surgery. He mentioned feeling cold!

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#57

Post by [deleted] »

freehunter wrote: post #8

Living in Michigan, this is one of my biggest fears. Due to the massive lakes that surround us, we frequently get a blast of warm, wet air that causes rain, and of course that warm wet air is being pushed off the lake by a cold front, causing high winds and sub-freezing temps. This combined with large stands of farmland and no trees for windrows means wind blows right across the road and freezes the rain instantly, s…

[deleted]

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#58

Post by freehunter »

astral303 wrote: post #32
freehunter wrote: post #8

Living in Michigan, this is one of my biggest fears. Due to the massive lakes that surround us, we frequently get a blast of warm, wet air that causes rain, and of course that warm wet air is being pushed off the lake by a cold front, causing high winds and sub-freezing temps. This combined with large stands of farmland and no trees for windrows means wind blows right across the road and freezes the rain instantly, s…

The conditions you describe are tough. Going off the road in an ice storm sucks. Love your CB and snow suit suggestions. The following is not commentary on your situation, but tips to reduce chance of getting stuck: 1. I strongly recommend running a set of good snow tires, no matter whether you have an AWD Subaru or a 4x4 truck or a FWD Corolla. Yes, truck snow tires exist. The reason is that the rubber compound is m…

For truck snow tires, many times "reasonable" MT (mud terrain) or AT (all terrain) tires are also rated for snow. I say reasonable because MTs can get pretty extreme in their tread pattern, which will really hurt your stopping distance on ice. Extreme MTs have very little rubber touching the road. On my truck I have Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor tires, which are rated for on/off-road and extreme snow. I wouldn't recommend them as street tires, as they are loud and wear very quickly on pavement, but just as an example of truck "snow" tires, ATs and MTs often serve the same purpose as snow tires, as well as giving you a better ability to get back on the road if you've gone off in a muddy or rough area.

ATs wear quicker than all-seasons (~50,000 miles). MTs wear extremely quickly (~30,000 miles). Normal all-season tires generally wear at ~60,000 miles.

-edit- also, before buying studded tires, check to see if they're legal in your state/country, and make a note of the legality dates. Many times they're only legal from November through March (studded tires damage the road when the road is dry). Tire chains are temporary solutions, but are practically illegal in many states (can only be used if the chain never touches the road surface).

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#59

Post by malnourish »

saraid216 wrote: post #47
sardonicbryan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is the best play then? Wait in the car without the engine running?

About.com (not the best resource, but I googled the answer since I don't know it) recommends running your engine for short periods and cracking the window open. I'm hesitant to actually agree, since cracking the window open doesn't seem like an awesome idea in the middle of a blizzard but... eh. http://weather.about.com/od/winterweather/a/winter_survival....

Cracking your window open during a blizzard wouldn't be too bad. Blizzards mean snow and it typically stops snowing when it gets substantially cold, so it is very likely that the heat from your engine would over power the slight cool air coming in from the window.

Re: The Cold Hard Facts of Freezing to Death (1997)

#60

Post by eigenvector »

johnbellone wrote: post #49
mobweb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no cell service, or the cell service is only for Verizon phones I remember reading somewhere that emergency calls can use any network.

If you have a phone you can make an emergency call from it as long as there is service. The different networks have different frequencies and if your phone doesn't have the antenna its not going to work. This is more than just CDMA vs. GSM, although not sure about GPRS. I was a big fan of the Android phones that had AM/FM radios awhile back. At least you'd be able to hear broadcasts to have a general idea of where th…

Most Android phones can receive AM/FM radio using the Bluetooth antenna with a custom ROM that enables that functionality. Most common ROMs include it. Dedicated antennae for that purpose are rare but that's no reason to go without.
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