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Winter weather brings a variety of dangers that people must deal with to stay warm and safe.
These dangers include carbon monoxide poisoning, hypothermia and frozen pipes, which can burst, rendering the home uninhabitable.
Public safety officials and experts say there are ways people can prepare to avoid these winter weather hazards and keep themselves safe.
These dangers are in the spotlight this week as millions of people living in USA A “severe winter storm” will bring heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain this weekend, affecting much of the Midwest, East Coast and southern United States, including Texas. Georgia and the Carolinas, according to National Weather Service.
Keep your home safe
Officials say people should stay indoors during winter storms. But running a home heating system for hours may increase the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning because furnaces, stoves and heaters can produce deadly fumes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Carbon monoxide is also produced when people use portable generators or run their cars in the garage to keep warm or charge their phones.
Dr. Alex Harding, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine Houstonsaying that because carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, people may not necessarily be aware of it.
“Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can be very subtle. They can sneak up on a patient and range from just a headache or a little nausea, all the way up to loss of consciousness and seizures,” he said.
Dealing with hypothermia
The cold weather hitting the U.S. this weekend could be dangerous or deadly due to unsafe exposure to the elements.
Cold temperatures could creep up on people in parts of the country, including Texas, which have largely experienced a mild winter so far.
“Really cold temperatures and winds can make it feel much cooler, and the result may be that the cold air can end up causing frostbite or hypothermia faster than normal,” said Jon Palmer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine.
Prolonged exposure to cold temperatures puts a person at risk for hypothermia, which occurs when the body loses heat faster than it can produce it.
“Hypothermia is definitely one of the bigger concerns, especially if we do have any certainty, like a grid or power failure,” Harding said.
The risk of hypothermia is greater for people who are outdoors, exposed to gusty winds, not wearing appropriate clothing, or whose clothing gets wet.
“If they have a warm, safe place to hunker down, have water, food and all those necessities … then that will limit their exposure to those risks,” Harding said.
But vulnerable groups, such as those who are disabled or homeless, may have difficulty finding warm, safe housing.
Protect your home’s pipes
In parts of the South, freezing pipes in homes during severe winter weather is a particular problem because such equipment is often located outside the building. But the rest of the country has to deal with the problem, too.
Jose Parra, a master plumber at Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical in Houston, recommends people insulate all pipes exposed to the outdoors, turn off and drain sprinkler systems, and leave faucets in the home dripping during freezing temperatures so water can flow through the pipes and protect them.
“A lot of the problems we’re fixing, I’d say 80 to 90 percent, could have been avoided with a little work ahead of time,” Parra said.
Troubles about electric cars
expert Acknowledge that cold weather can be difficult on electric vehicles. But they say with a little planning and a few adjustments, owners should be able to travel as normal.
Inside an electric car battery, lithium ions flow through a liquid electrolyte, creating electricity. But when the electrolyte gets colder, they move through the electrolyte more slowly and don’t release as much energy. This reduces range and drains the battery faster.
Neil Dasgupta, an associate professor of mechanical and materials science engineering at the University of Michigan, told The Associated Press that in the short term, automakers may come up with better ways to preserve battery life and heat them for charging. New battery chemistries are currently being developed that are more resilient in cold weather.
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Associated Press writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report.