DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) — In this brutal cold, one of the main reasons to stay inside is to avoid frostbite and hypothermia. In temperatures as cold as today's, both can take effect in as little as 30 minutes.
Frostbite occurs when your skin freezes during exposure to frigid air. Hypothermia occurs when your body drops below 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
We were live this morning from inside Pope Francis Center, one of two shelters open overnight to get people out of the cold. Inside that gym, there's 40 cots, but only five of them are taken. The staff is hoping that more of those cots are filled as the temperatures drop below zero.
The city of Detroit announced Sunday that 1,400 shelter and warming beds are available across the city through Wednesday to help people get out of the cold.
The two shelters open overnight are the Pope Francis Center and the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries. During the day, city recreation centers and libraries are also welcoming people to get out of the cold.
This is a vital service when wind chill pushs temperatures into the negatives, because being outside for 30 minutes is dangerous in this extreme cold.
You'll start to feel cold weather injuries take effect in your nose, ears, fingers and toes first; it feels like pins and needles. Then if your digits go numb, you need to get yourself inside because frostbite is settling in.
"Best way to try to warm is to warm slowly under warm water, not hot water," said Dr. Brad Uren, an Associate Professor of ER Med at the University of Michigan. "Hot water can actually cause additional injury to your skin because you often can’t perceive that your skin is being injured by the hot water because it’s numb."
Today is a federal holiday so some may not be open today, but you can find more information by calling Detroit's cold weather line at 866-313-2520 or visitingthis website.
