If you are stranded in a blizzard and are trying to stay warm?

If you are stranded in a blizzard and are trying to stay warm, why should you melt snow and then drink it instead of just eating snow?|||Because the phase change from solid to liquid -- melting -- consumes a great deal of heat. By melting the water before drinking it, you are greatly reducing the heat loss your body will suffer.|||The snow will lower your core body temperature which will make you colder. Counterproductive.|||If you warm the snow, melt it into water, hopefully around 100 F, it will warm you inside. If you drink cold water yourcore temp will cool off further and possibly die from the cold.|||I agree with some of the others, it is a bad idea to eat snow. Les Stroud of Surviorman fame broke this rule if he knew if would be physically active - hiking, chopping wood, etc. - while he was stranded.





To answer your question about drinking during a blizzard, dehydration happens in all weather and it is very important to maintain your fluid intakes during *all* survival situations.





Mike Honeycutt|||snow reduces the body temperature, so its better to melt it and drink water, read about latent heat...|||It takes quite a bit of heat to change a solid into a liquid. That heat would come from your body if you ate ice