Dateiliste

Today is cold.  After an unseasonably warm September here in Winnipeg, October seems to be making up for lost time.

If you had to work outside like I did, your prime directive was to stay in the sun as much as possible.  Soon even that won't be warm enough.  I'm not complaining... Winnipeg wouldn't be Winnipeg without six months of extreme cold every year.

I know it's probably ill-advised for me to give tips to the dominant species on surviving in the only environment where I have the advantage, but here we go anyway.  Here are 5 tried and true tips for humans on staying warm in -40 degree weather:

1. Dress in layers, and put them on in the right order.  The warmest sweatshirt should be closest to your body.  The lightest shirt should be farthest.  The light shirt is your windbreaker and the warm shirt is your insulation.  If you put your sweatshirt farthest from your body then your warm shirt is your windbreaker and your only insulation is your T-shirt.  Putting your heavy shirt close to your body is the best way to stay warm, but it's unintuitive to many people and they don't do it.   If you do this right you may not even need a coat.

2. Put on warm gloves and boots, and shield your ears and nose.  You lose most heat from the areas that stick out from your body, especially your hands, feet, and ears (and tail :P).

3. Put your gloves on the radiator about five minutes before you put them on and leave.  This way they'll be warm when you put them on, and your body heat will keep them warm when you're outside.

4. Especially if you're going to be outside for a long time, bring some snacks to nibble on.  Your body loses a significant amount of energy generating heat to keep yourself warm.  Bring something like dried fruit or nuts, anything with relatively low water content.  Otherwise the water in the food will freeze and your snack will be hard as a rock.

5. And remember if you have a small biodegradable item (like, e.g. chewing gum) that you need to get rid of, you can bury it in a snowbank and it will be gone by early spring.

-Wazz the snow fox

Song of the day: Vertigo Fox - Trial by Fire:

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