We could die outdoor

By Alex P. Vidal

“O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” – Percy Bysshe Shelley

FILIPINOS with relatives and friends in the East Coast, particularly in New York City, are probably aware right now we have been experiencing here the coldest winter in two decades.

Alas, the “city that never sleeps” was again colder than parts of Antarctica on Sunday (February 8) after brutal, life-threatening winds swept across much of the Northeast and New England over the weekend.

For the first time since 2015, I stopped and ran fast to hide inside a laundry shop after being zapped by wind chills that hit 40-below while walking on my way to a bakeshop.

My reaction was instant; I actually didn’t know what hit me. I immediately felt excruciating pain and numbness as powerful wind chills blasted the exposed skin on my face.

The last time I experienced the apparent symptoms of hypothermia or frostbite while walking outdoor was in February 2010 in Chicago, known as the “windy city.”

Being exposed to severe winter cold outdoor isn’t a joke. We can’t underestimate it. We could die. That’s why authorities have been warning us to stay indoor as much as possible.

When exposed to the cold, the body can lose heat faster than it’s produced. Over time, the body uses up its stored energy and body temperature begins to drop. Long-term exposure to the cold —especially if the body’s core temperature falls below 95 degrees Fahrenheit—can lead to hypothermia, frostbite and other problems.

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Hypothermia occurs when the body’s core temperature drops below 95°F. Symptoms include uncontrollable shivering, fumbling hands, slurred speech, and mental confusion.

Frostbite can cause freezing of skin and tissues, most commonly on fingers, toes, nose, and ears. Symptoms include numbness, stinging sensations, and skin that feels waxy or looks yellowish gray. Severe cases can result in amputation.

People with asthma, chronic lung disease, or other respiratory conditions or illnesses are at higher risk when temperatures drop because cold, dry air irritates the airways, said Dr. Haitham Khraishah, a preventive cardiologist at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute and an assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

sThis leads to greater inflammation and causes muscles around the airways to constrict, which can lead to wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath or a burning feeling in the chest, especially during exertion.

Too much exposure to winter cold causes the body to lose heat faster than it can produce it, leading to life-threatening conditions like hypothermia (dangerously low body temperature) and frostbite (frozen skin/tissue).

It can cause confusion, exhaustion, slurred speech, skin numbness, and damage to extremities.

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Temperatures hit 3 degrees in the New York City on Sunday, with bitter wind chills dragging the real feel temperatures to 14 degrees below zero. Parts of the northeast also reported wind chills that hit 40-below.

Temperatures are expected to increase every day this week, forecasters said.

The high Monday (February 9) was expected to be 31 degrees, with a low of 19 — higher than Sunday’s (February 8) high temp.

The rest of the week will be a veritable heat wave, according to Accuweather — with a week of highs above freezing starting Tuesday (February 10).

By Wednesday (February 11), the high temp will hit a tropical 41 degrees in NYC.

Rare Extreme Cold Warnings have been issued for more than 43 million people, including major metro areas such as New York and Philadelphia, through Sunday evening by the National Weather Service.

“The last time (New York City) had a warning issued similar to what we have this morning was in 2004,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Stephen Morgan said Friday (February 6).

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Antarctica, by contrast, was a balmy 21 degrees at McMurdo Station—18 degrees warmer than the frozen Big Apple.

New Yorkers can thank a blast of Arctic air that is heading south from the frozen tundra north of Hudson Bay, Canada, for the latest round of winter misery.

“In many parts of the Northeast away from the coast, this prolonged stretch of cold is the most extreme in at least the last decade and, in some areas, the last two decades,” AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecasting Operations Dan DePodwin said.

Many locations will end up with a streak of days below freezing that falls into the top 10 longest such streaks on record,” he added.

This weekend is set to be the coldest day in what has already been a record cold snap, the worst in over two decades.

“The deep freeze is returning to the northeastern United States this weekend,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter said.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)