Hypothermia at 31*?

Gather App
Guns.com Vault
M

Mobuck

Hawkeye
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
14,315
City & State/Province
missouri
With all the "stuff" going on here, I'm somewhat less than fully cognizant of all sorts of issues.
Today I was working on getting some crop ground cleaned up-mostly grubbing sprouts around the edges after burning off the cover. I got pretty warm and sweaty and then Tom showed up to run the skidloader brush grapple piling some trees and brush we chainsawed last week. The temp dropped a few degrees and it started snowing while I was picking up smaller sticks and limbs. A couple of hours into this, I started feeling chilly not moving much and exposed to the melting snow and wind. Then I realized I could barely walk when I got off the UTV so I headed for the house ASAP. Managed to get a pot of coffee started but before the first cup was brewed, I was shaking so bad I couldn't keep the coffee in my cup. This continued for about 20 minutes even though I was wearing a heavy insulated vest and sitting over the heat register.
Now, I've been darned cold many times but only a few like this. Just a wee bit scary and as I said , the temp was 31* when I walked into the house(probably a couple of degrees colder down in the field but still not "frigid"). I've heard this could happen but now I've had first hand experience.
 
Fatal hypothermia can easily occur with temps well in to the 40s and 50s, especially with a damp breeze. Your core temp only needs to drop to 95 for symptoms to begin, and once you hit that point progression is rapid unless you can get warm.
 
people die of hypothermia or get in trouble in remote areas from hypothermia all the time in the Sangre De Cristo range and here in the valley, the dry and high conditions you get sweaty you get chilled pretty fast, if the sun is going down and you are wet, you will have problems if you don't get dry and shelter
 
Hypothermia can sneak up on you at temps in the 50's to the low-60's (sweaty/wet, windy, etc). I hope you are doing much better now.
 
A very good friend of mine died of hypothermia 30 years ago when we lived in New Mexico. He had gone out to cut firewood on a cool but not really cold day. A freak early snowstorm blew in and he got his old 2wd pickup stuck. He apparently got hot and sweaty trying unsuccessfully to free his truck, then tried to walk out to get help. Looked like he sat down under a juniper tree to rest, and that's where he was found. Oddly, he was carrying his chainsaw but had left his six-gun in the truck, which indicated to me that his thinking was already fuzzy from hypothermia before he started to walk out. He was a good friend and co-worker. He and I laid a lot of pipe together for about five years, and kept in touch after we'd both moved on to other jobs. RIP Tom.

Sorry for the thread drift, but it got me thinking about my buddy. Thanks for letting me share that.
 
About a month ago we had a couple guys at work capsize a small boat in a settling pond. They were in the water for about 10 (frantic) minutes. They were shivering like the proverbial dog and peach seed. They were about done in. They finally got dried out and warmed up OK. It's nothing to trifle with.
 
Serious thermal shock problems can start w/o much warning under conditions of prolonged exposure to even fairly minor cold that wicks away body heat.

The worst I have experienced was fishing in a float tube on a spring day with bass hitting so eagerly I lost track of time. I could barely get out of the tube on shore and then I had to force myself to exercise heavily by running, waders and all, for a good long time. This was taught to me by an old Yugoslav partisan who had lived outdoors in the mountains fighting the Germans in WWII. He also taught us when camping and over exposed to use heated rocks from the fire, wrapped in a blanket and placed on your chest and stomach to help get the central body mass temperature back into safe ranges. He said that in the war many of his friends died w/o warning until they figured out the cause and that, in retrospect, you could see something in their eyes and soon they would just be gone.

One of the tip-offs you are in trouble is that your judgement goes to pot. You do stupid things for no good reason and feel light headed -- even giddy.

wunbe
 
Sin6Sec63451022 said:
About a month ago we had a couple guys at work capsize a small boat in a settling pond. They were in the water for about 10 (frantic) minutes. They were shivering like the proverbial dog and peach seed. They were about done in. They finally got dried out and warmed up OK. It's nothing to trifle with.
Click to expand...

Glad they made it. Most here probably know this already but just in case if you ever get soaked like that in the cold it's no time to be shy. You have to get those wet clothes off your skin and FAST. Even naked in 10 degrees is better than in wet clothes and cold combined. In some cases if the temp is low enough you literally have seconds maybe only 30-45 seconds before the effects of hypothermia cause your fingers to stop working. Then you can't get them off and you will almost certainly die.

Well that was uplifting... lol sorry just a good thing to keep in mind.
 
And not only your finger tips, all your muscles need blood to function. The body will automatically shut down sending blood to the extremities to protect the core. You can live without legs or arms but not without your core organs.
 
I almost got in serious trouble hunting once when my body started shutting down my extremities. I used to hunt laying out in the middle of a corn field. One evening I got real shivering cold, but I was trying to hold out another half hour till dark. After a while I started to warm up a little and thought I'd be okay to make it till dark. Sunset came but no deer, so it was time to walk back to camp. When I tried to roll over to stand up, I couldn't. My legs were numb. I guess to keep my core temp up my body had stopped sending blood to my legs and I hadn't noticed.

I managed to roll over and prop myself up and started hitting and rubbing my legs to try to get the blood flowing. Well it did and two things happened, amazing pain and my core temperature dropped like a stone. I started shaking violently like a seizure. This is all now happening in the dark in the middle of a hill side corn field and no one knows I'm there. I managed to get control of myself, eventually able to stand up and start the long slow walk back to camp. I learned a scary lesson and have always been much more careful since then.
 
As safety officer, I give a talk each spring (most hypothermia will occur during spring-summer-fall in mountain areas) for our field staff. Bring wool, stay hydrated, bring a hat==cotton wicks body heat SO FAST!.
 
blume357 said:
As I remember some of my training, the best way to recover from Hypothermia is to get in bed naked and have someone else who is warm get in there with you. Actually not joking.
Click to expand...
I thought we weren't going to talk about that. :wink:
I've been extra cold a few times but I didn't know hyperthermia was so easy to happen. Have to remember to be careful even when it's not so cold.
 
The heat really bothered me the first 2/3 of my life. I was raised in Wisconsin and hated the summer heat and humidity. I ended up working 35 years on the Mohave desert. Retired then I got a pulmonary embolism and now take blood thinner. Now I am cold most of the time and the desert heat is okay. I don't drink near enough water and have got in trouble because of that. I worked for over 30 years on graveyard by choice as I hated the heat on day shift years ago in California. My wife is the opposite she is hot most of the time while I am cold. We argue over the thermostat. I need blankets even in summer. I think the blood thinner sort of acts like anti freeze on me.
 
Pheasant hunting one morning, was over dressed for the weather. Got hot & sweaty. By lunch the weather had cooled & was windy. We ate lunch off the tailgate of a truck while parked on a ridge. I don't think it was even below 45deg but the wind just kept cutting at me. I started shivering & couldn't stop, my wet cotton long john top was freezing me to death, literally. I'd always read that cotton kills, I understood it now. After taking the cotton off & setting in the truck with the heater, I was soon able to start back hunting.
Within days of that hunt I purchased the proper base layers with moister wicking material that maintained insulating qualities when wet.
 
When I was about 13 I and a friend took a "joy ride" on a boat we found on the shore of a small pond in winter where there was ice off the shore a ways with a open water off shore a ways. I fell head first out of the boat in the icy water. Fortunately I was wearing a war surplus "Bomber jacket" Heavy canvas with wool fleece lining or whatever. I soaked from the waste down, head and hands but that coat kept my upper body dry. Even so we were a mile from home and my pants almost immediately were frozen ice. Obviously I made it but was really frozen. My folks weren't home and I doubt I told them what happened.
One of my earliest memory's was at the end of world war two. There was a artisan well and old horse watering trough right across from the country store I was raised in. There was a about half acre roadside park on the edge of a mill pond with the horse trough with continuous ice water from the artisan well that I actually think was colder than ice. It was bricked in with a stone arch and the tank was 6 or 7 feet long like a huge bath tub. My dad was home and pumping gas for someone right across the road. I was playing on top the arch and fell in the tank. I recall laying there in shock and can still see a hand coming through the water and pulling me out. Dad had seen me fall and threw down the gas nozzle, ran across the highway and pulled me out. It also was just about the first time I recall seeing him as it was right at the end of the war. I recall freezing and shaking while they dried me off. It made the local newspaper.
 
I recall a funny one. I was about 13. My mom would go along deer hunting with my dad and I. I had walked ahead along a big irrigation ditch and my folks were far behind. Dad crossed the ditch on some logs or whatever. He turned to my mother who started across and said to her give me your gun you are going to fall in. Thats exactly what happened! She was soaked and it was cold winter. She walked back alone to the car fired it up, hunk her wet cloths on limbs and covered the windows with stuff, sat in the hot car thawing out. She was mad at dad. Dad said some other hunters come walking through the woods laughing about some woman shivering in a car while her cloths were thawing. Dad didn't let on that he knew it was his wife.
 
The one thing that has always held me in good stead is advice my uncle gave me.

First, if your feet get cold put on your hat. We loose a lot of heat from the head. And it's the last thing that gets reduced blood flow when we get cold.

And second, as long as you are shivering you'll be okay if you use the warning sign a get warned up. It's when you stop shivering that you are really in trouble.

Oh, and as to getting warm, while getting next to a naked body is good, and can lead to an enjoyable time, getting into a warm tub is better. For getting warm that is.
 
Jeepnik said:
The one thing that has always held me in good stead is advice my uncle gave me.

First, if your feet get cold put on your hat. We loose a lot of heat from the head. And it's the last thing that gets reduced blood flow when we get cold.

And second, as long as you are shivering you'll be okay if you use the warning sign a get warned up. It's when you stop shivering that you are really in trouble.

Oh, and as to getting warm, while getting next to a naked body is good, and can lead to an enjoyable time, getting into a warm tub is better. For getting warm that is.
Click to expand...
I heard some stories of soldiers at the Battle of the Bulge that were so cold they STOPPED shivering and the medics were surprised they survived.
 
I was on a motorcycle when I stopped to get warmed up... but the lodge wasn't open for the new season yet. I had a hard time getting back to town and then home. Literally dropped the bike on the steps and went in and got into the shower. I stayed in there a long time before I got warm again.

If it's cool/cold weather I always dress like I might have to walk home. Good shoes and socks, an extra coat and two or three different kinds of hats. Gloves in the pockets of the extra jacket. Flashlight with extra batteries, water, snacks, etc., and a Blazer brand "torch" style butane lighter.
 
It was late October or early November of 1960. I was a fire fighter in Yosemite National Park. There was a lighting storm and four of us were assigned a couple spot fires. We flew in by helicopter to a meadow between the two maybe five or six miles apart. Two of us for each fire. My boss asked me should we take our sleeping bags and I said yes. He thought a second and said no. He said we should have the fires out early enough with time to walk back to the meadow and hook up for the night and sleep all four of us together and then walk out. Mistake. Our fire was in high country, we didn't get it out and it spread. It got late on us and got cold. I only had a wool or flannel Jac shirt besides my regular shirt on. Don`t know if the boss had a extra shirt or not. We weren't too fond of each other to start with. We were opposite personality's. I dug a shallow trench, laid branch's in it to soften things somewhat and put some more on top me. We were close to timberline and it got cold. What made it a little easier was the fact that the boss seemed to be a little more miserable than me. I hiked down and got our bags the next morning. Some help arrived and I think we had to stay on that fire at least three or four more days. Of course things got a little better as they flew in or air dropped us some goodies.
That first night was one of three or four other such events where the nights seemed about 50 hours long. Durn him anyway. That was over 56 years ago and I still remember it.
 
coach said:
I've been extra cold a few times but I didn't know hyperthermia was so easy to happen. Have to remember to be careful even when it's not so cold.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I've heard pretty much the same thing from doctors, EMTs and SAR guys: all it takes is for you to get wet, and 50 deg can be fatal. I believe it was one of the Cousteaus, Jacques or his son, who said on a TV special years back that water takes heat from the body up to 70 times faster than dry air. Float tube experience in high mountain lakes with water temps in the mid-50s leads me to believe him.

Rick C
 
Hypothermia will happen anytime your body loses heat faster than it can generate it. Becoming wet and adding a breeze and you can have hypothermia at 60 degrees or even higher. Twelve years in the Arctic taught more than I really wanted to know about the subject.
 
Rick Courtright said:
coach said:
I've been extra cold a few times but I didn't know hyperthermia was so easy to happen. Have to remember to be careful even when it's not so cold.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I've heard pretty much the same thing from doctors, EMTs and SAR guys: all it takes is for you to get wet, and 50 deg can be fatal. I believe it was one of the Cousteaus, Jacques or his son, who said on a TV special years back that water takes heat from the body up to 70 times faster than dry air. Float tube experience in high mountain lakes with water temps in the mid-50s leads me to believe him.

Rick C
Click to expand...

Yeah,
I think freezing water is the second of the 4 threes that will kill you:

3 minutes without oxygen

3 hours in frigid water

3 days without consuming water

3 weeks without food
 
When I taught SCUBA,, hypothermia was a subject I covered a lot. We dive in water that is almost always a lower temp than the body. AND,,, water can conduct the body heat away from the body 25 X faster,, YES,,, 25 times faster than air. That is why divers wear wet suits & dry suits.
Any yes,, temps even in the 60's can & has caused hypothermia.

Proper planning,, & recognizing the symptoms can save your life.
 
I took my 1st road trip on a motorcycle in '73 and all I took was a Levis jacket. I bought a pair of cheap cotton gloves in Cody, WY. Hypothermia causes you to make irrational decisions. I was freezing cold while heading south on Hwy. 40 in CO. I came to a sign that said straight was Kremmling and bearing right to Toponas. A rational person would have stopped and looked at the map. I turned right onto Hwy.134... :? The higher I got, the more sleet I was riding in. I never thought I'd make it to Toponas. When I finally got there and came to a store, I could hardly get the kick stand down.

I literally stumbled into the store and tried to tell them that I was almost frozen to death, but they couldn't understand a single word because I was slurring my words so bad and was shaking like I was having a seizure. I went to the back of the store and they kept staring at the long haired kid on a bike that must have been on some pretty hard drugs. It was over 2 hours before they could understand that I was suffering from extreme hypothermia.

Back to hypothermia affecting rational thought: At that fork in the road I mentioned earlier? Kremmling was 5 miles ahead. Toponas was 30 miles of higher elevation away...with sleet.

Hypothermia is not just being cold. It gets progressively worse and can easily lead to death. It's nothing to fool around with...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Marveling at historic courage
Replies
0
Views
83
MaxMan
M
M
Was having a beer at Ann O'Malley's
2
Replies
38
Views
1K
el caminero
el caminero
Wyandot Jim
A Britt Looks At America
Replies
8
Views
352
reuben_j_cogburn
reuben_j_cogburn
Joey
Bonnie Tyler Dead at 75
Replies
10
Views
335
drycreek
drycreek
GunnyGene
B-52 crash at Edwards
2
Replies
30
Views
806
pyth0n
pyth0n

Latest posts

Back
Top