A lot of people are about to be hit with a big winter storm who are not used to this kind of weather. Here are some tips from a Minnesotan:
Keeping warm:
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avoid cotton fabrics.
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Use layers, take them off if you start to sweat.
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I like tight gloves with thick mittens, which allows use of your hands sometimes without skin exposure.
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A face mask works as a scarf or another layer in a pinch
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Warm up your home in case you lose power. Power outages may happen after the snow/freezing rain stops
Snow removal:
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Lift with your legs, not your back.
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Don’t save all of the shoveling for the very end of the storm, it’ll be more difficult and will start to create an ice layer (especially where walked on)
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if you have a car, lift up the windshield wipers before it starts snowing/freezing rain
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Completely clean your car soon after the storm. In most places, it’s illegal to drive with a lot of snow/ice on your car and super dangerous.
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If you’re parked on a street, move the car to a plowed area when possible so they can plow where you were parked
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If you have a driveway, clear off part of the street in the direction the plow will come from, so that doesn’t end up blocking your driveway
Driving
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stay home until streets are plowed if possible (thank you healthcare workers and emergency responders!)
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Turn on ABS brake and traction control settings, if available
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accelerate and take turns slowly
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Have more time/distance to brake
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Speed up before going up an incline, getting stuck and sliding back down is not fun
Sliding on ice:
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If walking, keep your feet underneath your center of gravity
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If driving, switch to neutral and steer in the direction that the back of the car is sliding, but don’t overreact on steering. Slamming brakes will make sliding worse.
Car stuck in snow:
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turn off traction control
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don’t just let the tires spin out
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try shoveling, sand/kitty litter, and rocking back and forth
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Once you get moving again, don’t stop
Edit: if you do lose power, have a faucet or two drip water to prevent the pipes from freezing and bursting
Edit 2: if you see ICE, follow these steps
Question for people who live in colder climates - why is it always so hot indoors? When I’ve been in new York, Chicago, Milwaukee, etc. in the winter it’s miserable inside. It’s 12 degrees outside and you step into a restaurant or shop where it feels like it’s 80 degrees. You’re immediately sweating because you have a jacket, gloves, etc. and you have to find someplace to put them.
I wonder if those places do a better job of being less drafty because it’s easier to know there’s a draft when it’s really cold.
It would help keep hot air inside if so which might explain why it’s so hot
Sometimes it’s because of the temperature delta. Really cold outside and warm inside might feel hot, comparatively. Apparent temperature stuff.
Other times it’s probably over compensation for the thin skinned.
My wife and I keep our heat pretty low, usually 60°F, which is usually pretty damn chilly for indoors
But when you step in from single digits outside, 60° feels downright toasty.
Finland the normal indoor them I think is 21-22
That’s quite warm, especially for winter. I would have guessed 17 or 18.
Below 18C isn’t great because of humidity, it can cause issues. 21C seems to be the sweet spot on Finland for health and comfort
In Sweden 20°C is the lowest acceptable indoor temperature for apartments.
I lived at a place that had 17-19°C indoors for a while. Spent all my time nestled under triple blankets. Sitting still at those temps gets real cold after a while, unlike being outdoors where you’re more likely to be moving (and maybe get some sunlight to warm you up, too).
If you are coming directly from outside to a heated space, it’s likely the space near the door Is over-heated because of the loss to outside.
Hotels, big stores, event spaces, and other things with frequent entry/exit usually have a double door setup, meaning you walk through two doors and an air gap to enter, to minimize fluctuations in the main building. Revolving doors are popular for this as well, but I’m personally thankful they aren’t more wide-spread… That air gap space usually has heat set to run until it’s like 80-90f whether the door is open or not, so it gets rather toasty. Places that don’t have the buffer space will often have heat vents near the door cranked up to account for heat loses, and if they aren’t opened it’ll also get toasty.
If it’s a small shop, it may be because the door is constantly being opened and they’re trying to keep the store warm for the people working there.
Waddle like a penguin on ice. They rarely fall over
Walking like Captain Jack Sparrow is another great trick. Turns out it’s great for keeping your balance, and it gives you a great excuse to hum his theme song.
i do that naturally
- hire a Canadian driver
Hey South Western British Columbian here, please send me as much of your snow as you feel comfortable giving us
I am considering turning the thermostat all the way up and sitting around in my underpants today just in case the weather takes out power tomorrow.
why underpants? just let that shit breathe and feel freeee
Lots of great advice here and in the comments. To add some clarity to driving carefully, imagine that you are driving with an open fish tank on the floor of the passenger side and you don’t want to lose any fish.
We never used to get studded tires BUT the climate has changed dramatically. It used to get cold and stay cold but now it may be 40 and rain then drop into the teens, leaving a slippery ice coating. Studded tires help a lot. A 4-wheel drive vehicle can get you going but they cannot stop or steer any better than a 2-whell drive vehicle.
Rocking back and forth doesn’t help me when I watch the news, so I doubt it’ll help me get out of a snow drift.
- turn off traction control
In some cars to turn off the traction control and ABS, you have to push and hold the button on the dash (usually depicted with a wheel and two squiggly lines). You will know it is off if the ABS and/or TCS alert lights appear on the dashboard.
A helpful list! I think an additional point worth mentioning is that a heated blanket can keep you warm while consuming much less electricity than a space heater can.
We have a heated mattress pad, keeps all of the heat inside the blankets
There are heated clothing as well that use regular power banks as energy source. Not that expensive but makes quite the difference. Another benefit is that you can turn it off when you go indoors instead of undressing to not start sweating like a pig.
My son is a mechanic so it’s often chilly at work. He uses those rechargeable hand warmers in his shirt pockets.
When my mechanic had decided to sell his shop, he got rid of his heating bill for the last few months he had to work and he used a vest from snap on (branded snap on anyway) that had rechargeable warmers in it. Was kind of neat. He said it worked surprisingly well as long as he remembered to keep it charged
Okay, not sure how snow is news to 200 people or relevant in the first place…
Most of a continent is about to see much colder than usual weather. Forecasts where I am are predicting windchills down to -40, and I have a friend north of me who’s looking at windchills down to -60F. I have a coworker in Texas who’s looking at snow and ice in the next few days as well. Tips like this are useful for folks who live in places that don’t get snow and ice
Bold of you to assume there will be a plow.
Another small one for driving: unless you need to stop/slow down, it’s far better to just let of the gas/accelerator and coast that to touch the brakes and risk breaking traction. This goes for things like, unsure if person in lane a wants to move over? Unsure if person is going to pull out? Similar things. If its slick, you really don’t want to overuse your brakes.
Yup, try to never stop/brake until you’re at your destination, if possible. Intersections are notorious icy spots as stopped cars waiting for the light to change can melt a thin layer of snow/ice. Which the refreezes one the car leaves. It’s much better, if possible, to look ahead and coast some to time the intersection to slowly pass through without stopping.
This limits brake use, which reduces chance of sliding out, which reduces the chance of crashing. Plus, looking ahead is always a good idea for driving, regardless of if it’s storming out.
Also, fully gas up your car (or make sure you’re at the top of your safe charging range if you have an EV). If you need to use your car briefly as a heat island, you’ll want to have the ability to do that for as long as possible.
Canadian here: Storm chips and whisky.
getting storm chocolate and anxiolytics. 🥹
yay…
