Choose the smallest room with the fewest windows, close every door between it and the rest of the house, and put a hat on. A household holds a small room at a liveable temperature with body heat and blankets long after it has lost the ability to heat a whole house.
That's the whole technique, and it's worth knowing before you need it, because the instinct — try to warm the house — is the one that fails.
Pick the room
- Small, interior, few windows. A bedroom over a bathroom. Away from the north-facing wall if you know which one that is.
- Close the doors to every room you aren't using, and to the hallway if you can.
- Blocking drafts matters more than it sounds. The NWS's own hypothermia advice includes "avoid breezes and drafts indoors" — a rolled towel along the bottom of a door is a real intervention, not fussiness.
- Cover the windows at nightfall. Curtains, blankets, whatever is to hand. Glass sheds heat all night.
- Go smaller still if you need to. A tent pitched indoors, or a blanket fort over a bed, traps body heat in a volume small enough for people to actually warm. It looks ridiculous and it works.
Dress like the NWS tells you to
The National Weather Service's cold-weather guidance lists what prevents hypothermia, and it's unglamorous: dress in layers, wear a warm hat, avoid breezes and drafts indoors, and eat nutritious food and wear warm clothes to ward off winter chill. Mittens beat gloves. Keep skin dry, and change immediately out of anything damp.
Two of their notes are worth pulling out. Alcohol reduces shivering, which is one of the ways a body warms itself — so the hot toddy is working against you. And caffeine constricts blood vessels, which keeps warmth out of fingers and toes.
| Layer | What it does |
|---|---|
| Next to skin | Stays dry — change it the moment it's damp |
| Middle | Traps air; two thin layers beat one thick one |
| Outer | Blocks moving air, indoors as well as out |
| Hat | The NWS lists it separately, and so should you |
| Feet | Dry socks, and something between them and the floor |
Know the line
Per the NWS, hypothermia is a body temperature below 95°F, it needs medical attention immediately, and — the part that surprises people — it can occur in temperatures as warm as 60°F, particularly with wet clothing or a long exposure. A cold house isn't a safe house just because it's above freezing.
They also note that older adults are most at risk, that as people age the body gets less efficient at signaling that it's too cold, and that older people "tend not to shiver effectively." Someone that has stopped shivering hasn't stopped being cold. Check on the people at home by talking to them, not by asking whether they feel fine.
The rule that doesn't bend
Nothing built for outdoors comes inside. Not the generator, not the charcoal grill, not the camp stove, not the propane heater meant for a patio — and the garage doesn't count as outside, even with the door open. A generator belongs 20 feet from the house, away from windows and doors, exactly as our power outage guide and the gas-versus-lithium comparison both spell out.
Carbon monoxide has no smell and no color, and every winter it kills people that were only trying to get warm. Dilution outdoors is the only thing that makes a combustion device safe. If you take one line from this post, take that one.
Where this falls short
Shrinking the room buys comfort and time. It doesn't stop a house from freezing, and it does nothing for the pipes — which is a separate job involving cabinet doors left open and a trickle running.
It's also not a plan for everyone. A household with an infant, an older adult, or anyone with a circulation problem should be leaving for somewhere heated rather than proving how long they can tough it out. Warming centres open for exactly this, and going early is cheaper than going late.
And on frostbite, the NWS is specific about the rewarming everyone gets wrong: use warm, not hot water, and never radiant heat like a fireplace or a hair dryer, because numb skin burns before it can feel anything.
Where to go next
The winter storm guide covers the before-and-after around this, and what to do in a multi-day outage is the page for when the cold is only one of the problems.