FACTS
- Mild hypothermia can make a person dizzy, hungry, nauseous and make it harder to speak clearly. Motor skills will start to fail and a person may feel tired.
- Whether it’s caused by exposure to cold weather or immersion in cold water, someone with hypothermia first begins to shiver to move muscles and generate heat, experts say. When the body stops shivering, that’s a sign of significant trouble.
- When hypothermia begins, the body’s core functions work harder, pulling blood into extremities. Shivering is the body’s involuntary survival instinct to jump-start muscles to maintain warmth.
- In North Carolina, three people were found dead after a tornado hit a seaside town, while in Texas, four family members perished in a Houston-area house fire while using a fireplace to stay warm.
- Winter is a deadlier season than summer, according to a report that shows twice as many people die of causes related to winter cold than of those related to summer heat.
STATS
- According to estimates, more than 1000 people die of cold exposure in the U.S. every year.
- In 2014, there were 42,480 workplace injuries and illnesses involving ice, sleet, or snow that required at least one day away from work to recuperate. These resulted from falls, slips or trips; overexertion and bodily reaction; transportation incidents; and contact with objects and equipment. Among these injuries and illnesses were 34,860, or 82 percent, that were due to falls on the same level (that is, not from falls from heights or through surfaces).
- According to BLS, in 2016, “20,520 workplace slip & falls involving ice, sleet, or snow required at least one day away from work, not including the falls from heights or through surfaces.
- Over 1,300 people are killed and more than 116,800 injuries due to snowy, slushy, and ice pavement every year. And near 900 people are killed and 76,000 are injured during snowfall or sleet.
- The CDC found too much cold has a worse effect on life than the heat has had. In 2015, 800+ people died because of hypothermia, while less than 400 people died from hyperthermia (WP).
- Of the 2,000 U.S. residents who die each year from weather-related causes, about 63 percent died due to exposure to excessive natural cold and hypothermia, while about 31 percent died due to excessive heat, heat stroke, or sun stroke. The remaining 6 percent died of floods, storms or lightning, according to the survey by the National Center for Health Statistics.