Prince Albert is feeling frigid

An extreme cold weather warning has ended in Southern Saskatchewan including Prince Albert.

However, Prince Albert is still experiencing very cold weather.

Lyle Karasiuk with Parkland Ambulance said there are two guidelines to follow when the temperature is this cool.

“If you don’t have to be outside, obviously…stay indoors,” he said. “If you do have to venture out make sure you’re dressed with good insulating boots, good gloves, (and) several layers.”

Wearing layers is an easy way to keep your body warm as it generates more heat said Karasiuk. If you don’t wear enough layers you could lose all your bodies warmth.

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“As you shiver you generate more heat, if you’re not trapping in the heat eventually all that heat will dissipate, shivering will stop and you get cold very, very fast,” he said.

Karasiuk said if your body is cold it’s like leaving a kettle full of boiling water on the stove, eventually there will be no water left.

“Your body shivers and shivers and shivers until at some point in time the shiver is not keeping up with the need to stay warm and therefore your body temperature suddenly will just drop off dramatically and ultimately, sadly you freeze to death,” he said.

Cold weather medical issues

Karasiuk said with temperatures of -40 Celsius (C) and below it doesn’t take long to develop skin irritation or even frost nip.

“In about 1 to 2 minutes you start to develop what we call frost nip, that’s just simply the redness on the skin, so your exposed face, your nose, your cheeks…your fingertips,” he said.

Once your skin has reached redness it’s a good idea to go inside. If the redness worsens you will then see white waxy blotches which will become hard as rock.

“When we start to see frozen tissue, the white waxy blotches or in fact cracking of the skin, because the risk of infection is so great, they should seek some medical attention,” he said.

If the person doesn’t seek medical attention at this point limbs could start to become frozen. Karasiuk said solid limbs are most common on people who are stranded for a prolonged period of time or someone who is always outside but never wears proper winter clothing. He said to return frozen limbs to normal they must be warmed gradually and safely in a hospital.

Karasiuk said if you see someone who has passed all of these stages and is hypothermic you have a serious problem.

“When we start to see personality changes to the point that there not making sense, there stumbling around, there acting in a bizarre behaviour there body temperatures cold,” he said they most likely have hypothermia.

“The emergency treatment is get them somewhere warm as quickly as we can, get them as warm as we can and seek some medical help,” he said. “Layer them with blankets.”

How to keep your hands warm: Don’t rub them together

-Blow on your hands

-Put them under your armpits

-Run them under hot water

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter:@princealbertnow