Average seasonal temperatures in Saskatchewan winters, frequently sitting at around minus 20 and colder, can include the risk of frostbite and hypothermia.

Terri Lang is emergency preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada.

“With these extreme windchills, frostbite can happen very, very quickly on exposed skin, and generally, in less than 15 minutes, you can have frostbite on exposed areas,” she said. “That is damage to your skin, and there is also the risk of hypothermia if you're outside for too long and not kept warm.”

Lang said to avoid frostbite, always cover exposed areas of skin.

“Always cover exposed areas as much as you can, dress in layers because it's actually the air that's trapped in the layers that is insulating you from the cold,” she explained. “So we always ask people to dress in layers, stay dry, because that's why you always feel cold with sweat, it makes a big difference here in trying to keep warm.”

While frostbite can do permanent damage to the skin within fifteen minutes of exposure to the extreme cold, it doesn’t take too much more time to be at risk of hypothermia.

In fact, every winter in Canada, the risk of death from exposure to the cold can quickly become a tragic reality.

“It's certainly part of the Saskatchewan winter," said Lang. “We saw just a couple of weekends ago that woman in Maidstone who died of hypothermia, because she was outside, and it happens every winter, sadly, across the prairies. That is the risk. in this part of the world, you can die from hypothermia. It's a medical condition, and if not treated, sadly, you can die from that."

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