04/08/2026
...Cold Water Safety Awareness Week…
Today’s Topic: Physical Incapacitation
Exposure to cold water can lead to body heat loss up to four times faster than in cold air. Even if you survive the initial cold water shock, the next serious threat is physical incapacitation.
Physical incapacitation is the loss of physical control over your arms, legs, hands, and feet, leaving you helpless in the water. This can occur very quickly, sometimes within seconds, but certainly within 10 minutes in water under 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
To understand the danger, imagine the difficulty of clipping on a life jacket after putting just your hands in a bucket of 45-degree water for five minutes—now imagine that difficulty when your whole body is submerged!
When cold water cools your muscles and nerves:
• You become progressively weaker
• You become exhausted more rapidly
• Your hands become numb and useless
• Your arms and legs stop working
What this means:
• Unable to self-rescue
• Unable to assist other people who try to help you
• Swimming failure
• Unable to position your back to the waves
• Greatly increased risk of drowning
In these conditions, wearing a life jacket will help you stay afloat until help arrives.
To find out more about cold water visit: https://www.weather.gov/safety/coldwater
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/53c0d7442e41475880c5cc66f0da3903
