How cold does it have to be to freeze to death instantly?

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asked Dec 31, 2020 in Weather by Shenzhen (900 points)
How cold does it have to be to freeze to death instantly?

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answered Jan 1, 2021 by Jocsolt (870 points)
For a person to freeze to death instantly or near instantly the temperatures would have to be well below 0F degrees.

For example a person may freeze to death instantly or at least within a few minutes if the temperature outside was -65 F or below.

However people have been in those temperatures with the proper clothing for a few minutes and survived such as in some walk in freezers etc.

Most people do not actually freeze to death instantly especially when they ahve clothes and blankets but they can still freeze to death if they stay out in the cold overnight.

I remember in the year 2013 the power went out to my house during an ice storm and I had no other heating source in the house.

So I bundled up with layers of blankets and wore my coat and few pairs of pants and it was probably 10 F in the house.

I survived that and used my breath as some heat as well.

But if you're outside in the wind and direct cold then you can still freeze to death but your body will start shaking and try to keep you warm.

You can actually freeze to death when your core body temperature dips below 70 F degrees so you could even freeze to death at temperatures of 40 F or below.

But having clothes, jackets and blankets can help you stay warm enough to hopefully not freeze to death.

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