Parkland Ambulance warns of frostbite risk as temperatures drop again

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“You’re going to first notice maybe your hands, your face, your toes, somewhere that’s maybe a bit more exposed than the core of your body,” Karasiuk said. “You’re going to start to notice that it just feels cold. If you look at the surface, I’ll use your hand for an example, you’re starting to notice it’s red or even developing little white blotches.”

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According to Karasiuk, the white blotches are the water in your body beginning to freeze. At that point, you need to start taking some measures to warm up, whether it be putting on mittens or gloves, blowing on your hands, or sticking them in your armpits.

“Ultimately, just like the ice cubes in your fridge sadly, they will start to freeze,” Karasiuk said. “Your limbs will start to get hard, they’ll get white or waxy in appearance. If untreated, severe frostbite can lead to what we call a cold burn. Think of what happens in the heat, your skin blisters. The same will happen when it’s really cold.”

In snowstorms like the one we had on Monday, meanwhile, the biggest threat can be people getting stranded and then wandering away from their vehicle. Just yesterday, Weyburn RCMP issued a release looking for a man who had left his tractor during the storm and had gone missing.

“While you might see in that case a farmyard across the field or you think you passed an approach to the nearest town,” Karasiuk said. “If you start out to walk in cold temperatures, in darkness, or in blowing snow, you’re going to become disoriented.”

One last thing Karasiuk wanted to remind people of was not to exhaust or injure themselves digging out all the snow we’ve had recently.

“Take your time, unless you’re in an urgent matter go slowly,” Karasiuk said. “Take some frequent breaks, come in and get warmed up, those sorts of things.”

Karasiuk added that snow is heavy so you should lift it with your knees and try to limit twisting motions by throwing the snow directly in front of you instead of to your right or left.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow