OMG, it's cold and getting colder! (And what to do about it)

Windswept Farm (from last year's really brutal cold snap, 1/2015)
Hadley, MA - Photo by Sharon Vardatira

For everyone who has been complaining about our lack of winter, now you’ve gone and done it!

EXTREME COLD CONDITIONS will affect our area (and all of Southern New England) over the course of this weekend with dangerous and life-threatening cold wind chills and dangerously cold ambient air temperatures. It’s already cold out there, but it’s going to be even colder soon enough. Fortunately, the frigid snap will not go on too long, as temperatures will moderate over the course of the day on Monday. In fact, we may even see 50 degrees (above zero) for a high on Tuesday!

Before we get to Tuesday, however, we are going to have to survive the weekend. A WIND CHILL WARNING is now in effect from 4 PM Saturday until Noon Sunday for wind chills as low as 20 to 30 below zero with some isolated locations in Central and Western MA hitting 35 below zero. Ambient air temperatures will be 5 below to 15 below zero across our area. Winds will be sustained at 15-25 MPH with gusts up to 45 MPH range, with isolated higher gusts possible at the coast.

In case you haven’t figured this out already, this is LIFE-THREATENING COLD that can bring frostbite exposure with just 10 minutes of exposure to the cold.

Without delay, memorize and then adopt this list (courtesy of the Red Cross) of top ten steps to take to stay safe during the cold weather:

1. Layer up! Wear layers of lightweight clothing to stay warm. Gloves and a hat will help prevent losing your body heat.

2. Don’t forget your furry friends. Bring pets indoors. If they can’t come inside, make sure they have enough shelter to keep them warm and that they can get to unfrozen water.

3. Remember the three feet rule. If you are using a space heater, place it on a level, hard surface and keep anything flammable at least three feet away – things such as paper, clothing, bedding, curtains or rugs.

4. Requires supervision – Turn off space heaters and make sure fireplace embers are out before leaving the room or going to bed.

5. Don’t catch fire! If you are using a fireplace, use a glass or metal fire screen large enough to catch sparks and rolling logs.

6. Protect your pipes. Run water, even at a trickle, to help prevent your pipes from freezing. Open the kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing. Be sure to move any harmful cleaners and household chemicals out of the reach of children. Keep the garage doors closed if there are water lines in the garage.

7. Better safe than sorry. Keep the thermostat at the same temperature day and night. Your heating bill may be a little higher, but you could avoid a more costly repair job if your pipes freeze and burst.

8. The kitchen is for cooking. Never use a stove or oven to heat your home.

9. Use generators outside. Never operate a generator inside the home, including in the basement or garage.

10. Knowledge is power. Don’t hook a generator up to the home’s wiring. The safest thing to do is to connect the equipment you want to power directly to the outlets on the generator.