I’ve had an argument with a friend recently. He stated that he could have been frostbitten while camping out if he had not brought extra blankets, etc. It was raining at the time, and the temperature was around +2 or 3 degrees Celsius. I thought that frostbite requires a temperature of zero or below - and in the given conditions, he might have had hypothermia but not frostbite.
Which of us is right?
You are.
IANAD, but a temperature of +2 celsius wouldn’t need much of a breeze for the windchill to go below freezing. This guy got frostbite from air conditioning.
Possible, but highly improbable. Depends on the wind, like Gorillaman said. Typically we in the Low Arctic don’t see much danger in it until it goes below -25C, with a wind of 30 kph or better. (well, okay, -20C with an 80kph wind is scary, but for slightly different reasons.)
Hypothermic, quite probably. Even severely hypothermic. Frostbitten - meh. Doubt it. 'Specially if he were inside a tent or ANY other kind of shelter.
For your interest and amusement, here’s a link to the Environment Canada windchill pages, there’s some kinda nifty stuff there. Like this page.
According to that, your buddy would be needing to bare his skin to an approximately 20kph wind for quite a while to get frostbite at -2C.
I speak from personal experience, I may add. I’ve frostbitten the tips of both ears and a patch on my wrist (note: Do NOT wear a wristwatch to play outside at -30C. And always always always remember your headgear.).
…and I’m still not a doctor, but isn’t there a fundamental difference, with hypothermia relating to core body temperature and frostbite attacking extremities?
Yes. You can get frostbitten without going hypothermic (and vice versa), I believe its due to the typically poorer circulation in the extremeties. The reason you have to be particularly careful at the lower temperatures is it can be difficult to tell whether your fingers are numb because they are cold, or if they are numb because they are frozen. Doesn’t have to just be the extremeties, either - as you can see by the info on the site I linked to, it can be anywhere. Typically, it is either exposed skin or extremites, though.
Why I said hypothermic over frostbite, for the OP, is that typically there is enough ambient warmth with one or two blankets to keep skin from freezing. Especially at -2C. (Speaking as someone who survived four days with no heat at -30C, thank you very much.) However, it may be cold enough long enough that your core body temperature drops to a potentially hazardous level.
Had a friend who frostbit the holy heck out of his face - he went out prospecting at -45C, and the prospecting party was delivered out to the bush via skidoo. He only had a wool balaclava as opposed to a neoprene face mask or helmet with face shield, and it didn’t cut the wind enough. He looked like he’d gotten a near-fatal bootstomping, what with the black skin sloughing off his cheeks, nose, forehead and chin.
My husband has nasty scars on the backs of his calves, from when his boots filled with slush on a long skidoo trip, and the boots froze to his skin. Thirty-five years later, they’re still almost six inches long and two inches wide.
Sigh.
And my kids wonder why I spaz about proper boots, scarves, toques, and WHERE ARE YOUR MITTS, DAMMIT! I don’t care how ultrafly you look, YOU WILL BE WARM!!!