Friday’s high in the mid-30s is likely going to feel like a heatwave compared to the bitter cold that is forecasted for the Northwoods.
According to the National Weather Service Green Bay, there’s a strong possibility for wind chills of -30 degrees Monday and Tuesday mornings next week.
It can take less than 30 minutes for exposed skin to develop frostbite at those temperatures.
“Anything from frostnip to frostbite. That's where your toes fingers may get cold related injury. The cells can actually freeze in your tissues and cause things like discoloration, blueness, pallor or whiteness to your digits, but also pain and what we call paresthesia, which is numbness and tingling,” said Dr. Bryan Judge, an emergency medicine physician at Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital.
Hypothermia is another cold-related injury Judge has seen. That’s when the body is not able to produce heat fast enough to stay warm.
Older adults and young children are those most at risk.
Judge says like most diseases- prevention is going to be your best course of action.
Dress in layers, limit time outside, and change clothes if they get wet.
“Interestingly, too, hypothermia can happen in somebody's home, and so maybe your heater is not working, or somebody might have a medical condition where they're not dressing appropriately, we get several patients that come in hypothermic who are actually inside,” said Judge.
Judge also recommends avoiding alcohol as it can impair your body’s ability to recognize that it’s cold.
