Extreme Cold

Wind chill isn't an exaggeration — it's frostbite time. The official National Weather Service chart converts temperature plus wind into how many minutes it takes exposed skin to freeze:

0 °F with 10 mph wind → wind chill of −17 °F

Exposed skin can freeze in 30 minutes.

−20 °F with 25 mph wind → wind chill of −51 °F

Frostbite in 10 minutes.

−40 °F with 50 mph wind → wind chill of −89 °F

Frostbite in 5 minutes.

• Insulate exposed pipes in attics, basements, and exterior walls before the first freeze.
• Keep blankets, thermal clothing, and extra layers on hand where you don't have to search for them.
• Install battery-powered carbon monoxide detectors. It's the single measure that prevents the most deaths in a winter power outage.
• Keep flashlights, a battery-powered radio, and charged batteries ready: in winter, outages last longer because crews work slower in the cold.
• Store water: if pipes freeze or burst, you can lose your water supply even with the power on.
• Keep at least a week's worth of medication and food that needs no cooking.
• If you have a fireplace or wood stove, service it before the season starts.

Recognizing hypothermia. The CDC describes the signs in adults as shivering, exhaustion, confusion, fumbling hands, memory loss, slurred speech, and drowsiness. In infants it looks different: bright red, cold skin, and very low energy.

• Protect your nose, ears, fingers, cheeks, and chin: that's where frostbite starts. A hat, scarf or balaclava, gloves, and loose layers of dry clothing.
• Several loose layers keep you warmer than one thick garment: the air trapped between them is the insulation.
• Close off rooms you're not using and keep the family in one room — the smallest and best insulated.
• Don't use the stove or a gas oven to heat the house. Ever.
• Keep electric space heaters 3 feet (90 cm) away from anything flammable: curtains, clothing, furniture, paper.
• Eat and drink: the body needs fuel to generate heat, and alcohol creates a feeling of warmth while speeding up actual heat loss.

Who is at greatest risk, according to the CDC: older adults without adequate heating, people experiencing homelessness, outdoor workers, infants in cold rooms, and people under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

• Check the pipes before turning the main water supply back on: a burst pipe can flood a house in minutes.
• If the power was out for more than 4 hours, follow the rules for refrigerated food from the blackout guide. Don't taste food to decide if it's safe.
• Ventilate the house before returning to normal if you used any combustion source.
• Photograph damage from freezing or water before you start repairs.
• Check on older neighbors: indoor hypothermia can progress over days without the person noticing, because confusion is one of its symptoms.

A family plan is not a pretty document: it is a handful of agreements made today, while everyone is calm, so you do not have to decide with your heart racing and no signal on your phone. It takes one conversation over the table and fits on a sheet of paper stuck to the refrigerator.

1. Decide where to meet, in two different places. One near home, for getting out quickly, and another outside the neighborhood, in case you cannot get back to the area. Everyone should know both by heart, children included, and it should not depend on anyone having a phone handy.
2. Name an out-of-area contact. One person in another city that everyone texts when they can. That person gathers information and passes it along, so no one has to go out looking for anyone else. It works because local lines get overloaded first, and because a text gets through where a call does not.
3. Assign responsibilities to specific people. Who grabs the emergency bag, who shuts off the gas and power, who helps the older person or someone with reduced mobility, who gets the pets out. A task with no owner is a task no one does.
4. Keep the list on paper. Phone numbers for family, the out-of-area contact, the doctor, the school, insurance, and emergency services. On paper, in the emergency bag, and in your wallet. A phone with a dead battery has no address book.
5. Practice it once. A fifteen-minute drill reveals what the conversation does not: that the emergency bag was buried in the closet, that no one knows where the gas shutoff is, that the child does not remember the meeting point. Repeat it at least once a year and whenever something important at home changes.

How to store it so it works when you need it

The CDC calls for approved food-grade containers with a tight-fitting lid, made of a sturdy, unbreakable material —never glass— and with a narrow mouth for pouring. An explicit warning: never use a container that has held toxic chemicals such as bleach or pesticides. And what almost everyone forgets: stored water should be replaced every 6 months. To disinfect the container before filling it, use a teaspoon of unscented household bleach per liter of water, wait 30 seconds, and pour it out.

What food to keep on hand

Ready.gov recommends several days of non-perishable food and gives a concrete list: ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, and vegetables —and a can opener—, protein or fruit bars, dry cereal or granola, peanut butter, dried fruit, canned juices, and pasteurized long-life milk. The rule when putting it together is simple: food your family will actually eat, that needs no cooking, and that you can rotate before it expires.

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer closed: every time you open one, you waste hours of stored cold.
• Throw out any food that has touched floodwater, even if the container looks intact. This is an explicit Ready.gov instruction.
• Keep a manual can opener. It is the item people forget most, and without it your pantry is useless.
• If you buy bottled water, keep it sealed in its original container, in a cool, dark place.

When the cell network is overloaded: text, do not call

The joint FCC and FEMA guide explains why: "text messages may get through when your call does not", even if delivery is delayed when the network is congested. And it asks for something almost no one does: "limit non-emergency calls", because every call takes up space that emergency communications need. Also save a contact under the name "ICE" (In Case of Emergency), the convention rescue personnel look for on someone else's phone.

How to stretch your battery

The same guide recommends lowering screen brightness and turning off apps to conserve charge. In an emergency your phone stops being entertainment and becomes your only line to the outside world: treat it like your water supply.

The battery-powered radio is still irreplaceable

The FCC and FEMA recommend a battery-powered radio or a portable television to follow emergency bulletins during power outages. It is the only channel that depends on neither your electricity nor the cell network.

The alerts you already have and did not know about

In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts are free messages that go straight to your phone for severe weather, AMBER alerts, and threats to safety in your area. Two things worth knowing: you do not need to sign up —phones have supported them since 2012— and they are not affected by network congestion, so they get through when calls no longer do. Find out what the equivalent system is in your country, and do not mute it.

• Have at least one light source that does not depend on the grid: a battery-powered or hand-crank flashlight, or a rechargeable lamp.
• Charge phones and backup batteries before the forecast event arrives, not after the power is already out.
• Keep a list of important phone numbers on paper: if your phone dies, your contacts die with it.
• Agree with your family that after an emergency everyone texts the same contact instead of calling each other.

This is the section that decides who has a hard time and who has a dangerously hard time. An emergency does not suspend diabetes, high blood pressure, pregnancy, or dependence on an oxygen concentrator: what gets cut off is access to the pharmacy, the clinic, and electricity. Everything that follows needs to be prepared beforehand, because once the emergency hits, there is no more room.

1. Keep a reserve of your medications, and know which ones hold up. Ready.gov calls for a several-day supply of prescription medications. For those that need refrigeration, the CDC is blunt: once the power has been out for a day or more, discard any medication that requires refrigeration, unless its label says otherwise.
2. The insulin exception, worth knowing word for word. The FDA documents that insulin in the manufacturer's original vials or cartridges —opened or unopened— can stay unrefrigerated between 15 and 30 °C (59 and 86 °F) for up to 28 days and still work. It loses effectiveness at extreme temperatures, and the longer the exposure, the less effective it becomes. In an emergency "you may still need to use insulin that was stored above 30 °C" —that is better than not using it at all— but as soon as proper storage is available again, those vials should be discarded and replaced.
3. If someone depends on electric medical equipment, there is one step almost no one takes. Ready.gov says it explicitly: you can ask your power company to put you on a priority list for service restoration. That step is free, can be done on any ordinary day, and changes the order in which you get reconnected. Add a backup battery for an electric wheelchair and for any assistive device, and talk with your doctor about how to keep the equipment running during a power outage.
4. Keep a copy of medical information, not just the pills. A list of medications with dosages, allergies, diagnoses, doctors' contact information, and —for infants— the vaccination record. A prescription bottle cannot always be refilled at a pharmacy in another city; a written list can solve that.

Pregnancy and newborns

The CDC calls for prenatal vitamins and other medications in the kit, plus supplies in case delivery happens without being able to reach a hospital: clean towels, clean sharp scissors, a bulb syringe, gloves, two clean white shoelaces to tie the cord, clean sheets, sanitary pads, soap or alcohol, and garbage bags. For infants: diapers, wipes, ointment, bottles, and formula. One detail that matters: ready-to-feed formula is the safest option in an emergency, because it does not need to be mixed with water and comes in sterile, single-use containers.

Disability, reduced mobility, and older adults

Ready.gov stresses planning accessible transportation in advance for evacuating or getting around, and including a service or support animal with its food, water, and supplies. That plan should be worked out with specific, named neighbors, not left vague.

The blow that comes later: mental health

The CDC names the normal reactions after a disaster —fear, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, frustration, trouble sleeping, or nightmares— and recommends taking care of your body, staying in touch with other people, and taking breaks from the news. In the United States and its territories, the Disaster Distress Helpline is available 24 hours a day: 1-800-985-5990, with service in Spanish. Asking for help here is not weakness: it is part of recovery, just like repairing the roof.

1. Before you go back in: look, smell, and listen from outside. The CDC lays it out this way: if you smell gas or suspect a leak, shut off the main valve, open all the windows, and get out immediately. If there is standing water inside and you can cut the power from a dry spot, do it. And one simple warning that prevents explosions and fires: use battery-powered flashlights, not candles, gas lanterns, or torches.
2. Ventilate before you settle in. The CDC recommends going in briefly to open doors and windows, and letting the house air out for at least 30 minutes before staying inside.
3. Shutting off utilities: when to do it, and the mistake you cannot make. Gas has a rule with no exceptions: if you shut it off for any reason, only a qualified professional can turn it back on. Never turn it back on yourself. Electricity is shut off by switching off the individual circuits first and the main breaker last —the order matters, because an electrical spark can ignite gas if there is a leak—. Water should be shut off if pipes may have cracked, because that contaminates the house supply, and should not be turned back on until authorities confirm it is safe to drink.
4. Go back only when authorities say it is safe. It sounds obvious, and it is the instruction people break most often: go back home only when authorities say it is safe. Structural damage is not always visible from the street.

• Make a photo inventory of what is in each room today: it takes twenty minutes and is worth its weight in gold for a claim.
• Keep that inventory and your policies outside the house —in the cloud or with a family member— because a file that gets soaked along with the house is useless.
• If you have to leave, take your documents with you, not your furniture.
• Do not sign anything with a contractor while you are in shock: check the money section for the warning signs of fraud.

The documents you need to protect today

The official recommendation is to keep insurance policies, deeds, property records, and other important papers in a safe place outside the house. FEMA publishes the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit for this, organized into four sections: household identification, financial and legal documentation, medical information, and contacts. Its rule for paper: a fireproof and waterproof box or safe, a bank safe-deposit box, or in the hands of someone you trust. For digital files: password-protected files on an external drive or in secure storage outside the home. And if you pay everything online, print your account records periodically.

An emergency fund, even a small one

The CFPB avoids magic formulas: "the amount you need depends on your situation", but "even a small amount can provide some financial security". Its underlying argument is the one that matters: without that cushion, a single unexpected expense can grow far larger than the original bill through interest and fees, because it forces you to rely on credit.

In a freeze, demand is immediate and very specific: heat without risk, pipes that don't burst, and hot food. It's also the scenario where the most people die from getting it wrong, so here selling well and selling safely are the same thing.

• Thermal insulation: door and window weatherstripping, thermal plastic sheeting, draft stoppers, and heavy curtains.
• Pipe protection: wrapping and insulating before the freeze, repair after.
• Blankets, thermal sleeping bags, and cold-weather clothing, new or gently used.
• Hot food delivered to homes for those left without gas or power.
• Inspection of heaters and chimneys before the season, by trained personnel.
• Carbon monoxide detectors, which is what turns a freeze plus a blackout into a tragedy.

It helps to start with one figure to size up what we're talking about: according to the ILO, informality affects nearly half of the employed population of Latin America and the Caribbean, around 47%, with huge differences between countries — under 30% in Uruguay and Chile, over 70% in Bolivia and Peru. For millions of families in the region, "looking for a job" and "starting something on your own" are the same sentence. What follows is not a promise of income: it is a map of what people actually do when a crisis hits, with the requirements and the risks laid out plainly.

Before any business idea, here's the figure that frames everything else: in the 2021 Texas winter storm, the state's official mortality report counted 246 deaths, of which 7.7% were from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by generators and heaters used incorrectly. Any service you sell here has to reduce that risk, not add to it.

Thermal sealing of homes — cheap, fast, and seasonal

Weatherstripping, tape, plastic sheeting, and foam. A home can be sealed in a few hours and the effect is noticeable that same night. It's one of the few improvements where the customer feels the result immediately, which makes word-of-mouth referrals happen fast. Great for selling block by block before the first cold front.

Pipe protection and repair

Wrapping exposed pipes before the freeze costs a fraction of what repairing a burst one does. After the freeze, the work shifts to repair, with huge demand concentrated into just a few days. Know the limit: gas line installation belongs to certified personnel, not to a seasonal service.

Hot food delivered to homes

When the gas or power goes out, a pot that still works is worth a lot. It's a business you can start with what's already in your kitchen, but it's regulated: check the requirements block below before selling your first plate.

United States — SBA disaster loans

For areas with a declared disaster. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) provides working capital for affected small businesses and nonprofit organizations; the physical damage loan covers losses not covered by insurance. Combined cap of $2 million, interest not exceeding 4% if you cannot obtain credit elsewhere, terms of up to 30 years, and the first payment deferred 12 months. There is also a line for homeowners (up to $500,000) and for renters for personal property (up to $100,000).

Mexico — what actually exists today

FONDEN stopped taking on new commitments on January 1, 2021. What operates today in emergencies is PAEAN, run by Civil Protection, and it is worth knowing exactly what it is and is not: it delivers relief supplies — food kits, water, blankets, roofing sheets, cleaning materials — when a state's own capacity is overwhelmed. It is not a reconstruction fund or a loan for your business. For capital, look at state, municipal, or development-bank programs, always verifying on the official website: fraud schemes that use its name circulate around these programs.

Brazil — Pronampe for micro and small businesses

A credit line for microenterprises (annual revenue up to 360,000 reais) and small businesses (from 360,000 to 4.8 million). The amount can reach up to 60% of the previous year's gross revenue for businesses with more than one year in operation, and up to 50% for new ones. The maximum rate is the SELIC rate plus up to 6% per year.

One event, two countries, two lessons.

Winter storm Uri, Texas, February 11–20, 2021

Nearly 10 million people lost power at the peak of the event, which NOAA classified as the year's first billion-dollar climate disaster. The final report from the Texas Department of State Health Services, published December 30, 2021, confirmed 246 deaths: 158 from hypothermia (64.2%), 19 from carbon monoxide poisoning (7.7%), 3 from frostbite, 25 from worsening of pre-existing conditions, 22 in traffic accidents, 10 from fires, and 9 from falls or other trauma. The lesson, in two parts: a prolonged power failure kills as much as the cold itself, and heating badly — a generator or grill indoors — killed nearly one in thirteen victims.

The same cold, on the other side of the border, February 16, 2021

Frozen gas pipelines in Texas cut off the supply to Mexico. The CFE reported 4,766,901 affected customers out of a total of 7,177,549 in Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León, with an estimated cost of 20 billion pesos over four days. The lesson: cross-border energy dependence means a blackout can reach you even if extreme cold doesn't hit your region directly. Preparedness can't be decided by your city's weather alone.

Related guides on this site:

• Power outage — the complete blackout guide.
• Energy crisis — when supply fails, not the line.
• Infrastructure crisis — water when the pipe bursts.
• Combined crisis — cold, blackout, and no water all at once.