Survival and Climate Change: Five Strategic Weather Considerations
Posted on October 5, 2015 by FerFAL

South Carolina, two days ago.

Before I even get started, let me say that no, this is not some tree-hugging climate change rant but an approach to the topic of weather and survival from an objective, practical point of view. I believe this is just one of those topics of great importance that is rarely addressed, or at least not often addressed from a truly practical perspective.
Trying to keep it simple, these are the top considerations I would keep in mind:
1)Accept the fact: Climate Changes. Always has, always will.
As explained earlier, my intention here is not to discuss the causes for climate change, how much of it depends on human activity (or not) or the different financial interests people on either side of the debate have. From a survival perspective the important part to understand is that climate change is real and it simply happens.
Climate change has happened before, it will happen again, and in fact it does happen naturally all the time. I happen to believe that we do affect the world around us to some extent. The Dust Bowl is actually a good example of how certain natural occurrences (drought), combined with certain… let’s call them unwisely chosen agricultural practices have combined with disastrous results. Either way, on a global level the climate is changing as it always has and that unavoidably impacts people’s lives. Some areas will experience far worse droughts, others become warmer and more tropical, maybe TOO warm for their own good. At the same time some other areas may become far colder than they already are.


Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936

Climate simply changes. We have ice ages every 100.000 years, interglacial warmer periods lasting about 10.000 years and then you have events such as The 8.2 kiloyear event or Younger Dryas stadial, think “Day After Tomorrow” movie where temperatures drop very, very fast in a matter of months rather than years. Scientists have different theories as of why these happen, but the important thing to remember is that they have happen before. In case you’re wondering, we’re now in whats called the Holocene geological epoch, an interglacial period that started 11,700 years ago.
While fascinating, other than the Younger Dryas stadial which Hollywood considered worthy of using in a disaster movie, it would seem that periods lasting thousands of years have little relevance in the disaster preparedness world. The thing is, even a couple degrees difference can have drastic consequences to crops, food production, water availability, sea levels and floods. Therefore it is important to approach weather not only as a static factor, but a dynamic one where towns may have to shut down because of lack of water or find themselves under it. Both of these have happen already, many times, in recent years. Avoiding locations already prone to natural disasters will be more critical than ever.
2)The Rule of Three
You’re probably familiar with the Rule of Three, which says you can’t survive 3 minutes without air, 3 hours of extreme exposure, 3 days without water or 3 weeks without food. Indeed, its more of a mnemonic device but in very broad terms it does provide a general idea of which are your priorities for staying alive.
Interestingly enough, all of the 3s are mostly location dependant. Where you live will dictate the quality of air (air pollution) the risk of it being compromised (volcano, industrial disaster, wild fire), will dictate the kind of shelter you can or can’t live without based on extreme temperatures, how much water is available and how easy it is to produce and acquire food. Like in Real Estate, a great part of survival is location, location, location.
Of these, the second and third line are of particular important. While of course having fresh clean air is critical, it is temperature and water availability that are often the hardest to balance. Not only proximity to rivers and lakes, as well as availability of wells, but also how much it actually rains each year is of great importance. Without enough rain, streams, lakes and of course wells are nothing but holes in the ground.


Minnesota family poses in front of log cabin, 1890


Florida Family, 1890

If possible, we also want mild to warm temperatures for as much of the year as we can. Personal preferences of course vary, but one thing stays the same: Most humans have a comfort zone between 21 °C and 25 °C with a humidity of about 50%. The further away you move from that the sooner you’ll need to worry about heating or air conditioning.
3)Growing Seasons and food production
Where you live and the kind of weather you have in such a location will determine what you can or cannot produce in terms of food, what plants can grow and which animals can be kept without having to use expensive additional resources.
For many survivalists the ability to grow food is essential, either as part of their planned food supply or because they simply enjoy having fresh home grown food. But even if that’s not you the ability to produce food in your area is of great importance. On one hand, it means that you too can start your own orchard if it ever becomes necessary or if you simply want to give it a go. On the other it means that there’s a greater amount of locally produced food, bringing down the cost, increasing local availability, both of which are important aspects during economic downturns or disasters of great magnitude.
4)The Cost of Cold Weather
Publications dedicated to homesteading often address the topic of heating self-sufficiency. Keeping a supply of firewood, processing it, having stoves, servicing them, having large tanks for fuel, above or underground, and this is just a drop in the bucket. Again, when it comes to personal preferences practically everything goes, but when it comes to practical survival the answer is pretty simple: It’s better not to need any of it in the first place! How bad winters are can make a big difference. In some parts of the world being left without central heating because of a power outage, or being left without firewood during the worst of winter means you’re dead within hours. How long winter lasts and how cold it gets matters greatly. In some areas even if you don’t get covered in snow you still may need heating for most of the winter and autumn. On the other end of the spectrum you have places where summers are unbearable and you need AC. Here it really depends on the kind of building we’re talking about. Poorly designed houses or densely populated apartment buildings are sometimes impossible to live in without air conditioner.
From a survival perspective, you would ideally live in a place where you need neither one and don’t need heating or AC to live comfortably. If forced to choose, survivability is easier to achieve in warmer climates than in colder ones.
5)Temperature, humidity, sun exposure and the overall impact on your health and quality of life.
At the end of the day we end up living where we like doing so indifferently from what’s purely practical. We’re not robots and we just like what we like, sometimes without much of a logical explanation. One thing to keep in mind though, is that we may like certain things, but our bodies may not agree with our heart. By this I mean there’s a simple physiological reality which is that our bodies need a certain temperature, a certain humidity, a certain solar exposure.
There’s a reason why old folks retire to Florida rather than Maine, in spite of Maine being a fantastic State. Our bodies feel better with somewhat warmer temperatures, mid-range humidity and a certain amount of sun exposure.

FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”.

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Good food for though.



I always marveled at people that opted to live in a flood plain of the Susquehanna river and were then upset when it flooded.

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Problem is, places with warm, easy climates also tend to have very high population density. And that's the worst possible thing for survival in a truly bad scenario. Much easier to mitigate the effects of extremely cold weather than the effects of hordes of desperate people. I've spent a few nights out in -30. With the right sleeping bag and clothes you survive even without a fire. If you build an energy efficient concrete home, maybe partially underground, you can darn near heat with a few candles. To me, the number one weather criteria is, "does it keep population density down"?

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the issue of snowmobiles was mentioned, and I would like to comment about it.

In a SHTF, Snowmageddon, etc. where a snowmobile would be the only way to move around (less those areas like the arrow head of MN where they don't plow roads in the winter and folks have more money in their snow machines than their trucks), your snowmobile serves ONLY 2 purposes: Bug out or get to the hospital (which is kind of a bug out). If things are that bad, the minimum wage employee isn't going to walk through the elements to get to the gas station that didn't get the fuel shipment, and the power is out anyway. Same thing with the Wal Mart. Not happening.


Getting supplies doesn't work on a snowmobile: they don't hold much. Pretty much what you can get on your person. Yes, the mountain machines have a cargo rack on the back, but the smart folks have fuel strapped to that. I used saddle bags, but by the time you get some emergency gear in those, they are about full. Sleds behind snowmobiles don't work well, and are prone to tipping. You won't be on nicely groomed trails, but pushing that machine to its limits on the drifts and terrain. Even evac to the hospital is iffy: no good way to bring a second person, much less injured unless you have a nice smooth way to get there and have them on a sled.


No, your typical snowmobile isn't the great snowpocolipse tool. A quad converted with tracks or a trail groomer, or other larger multi-track snow machine, yes. I have seen some VERY impressive youtube vids of these track attachments you drive your 1 ton pickup into and the wheel turn the tracks, and they go through some impressive shit. I have long wanted to convert an old bronco into a 4 track machine, just for shits and giggles, but in my area of MN, we don't get the snow anymore to justify it.

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Ferfal,

You are missing my point. I want the snow to limit mobility to help protect my family while a die off happens. I want the shtf in the winter.  It might save a lot of lives of prepared people.

Quoted:
Ferfal,

You are missing my point. I want the snow to limit mobility to help protect my family while a die off happens. I want the shtf in the winter.  It might save a lot of lives of prepared people.

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Ferfal,



You are missing my point. I want the snow to limit mobility to help protect my family while a die off happens. I want the shtf in the winter.  It might save a lot of lives of prepared people.

Ask yourself how often you have to worry about not freezing to death in cold climates vs hordes of desperate people causing problems. Heating with a few candles? Tell that to the folks here investing in quality wood stoves and spending days cutting, hauling, procesing, stacking, seasoning and moving firewood!
FerFAL

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What is the big deal? We live like this our whole lives. Not a major problem.

Quoted:
the issue of snowmobiles was mentioned, and I would like to comment about it.

In a SHTF, Snowmageddon, etc. where a snowmobile would be the only way to move around (less those areas like the arrow head of MN where they don't plow roads in the winter and folks have more money in their snow machines than their trucks), your snowmobile serves ONLY 2 purposes: Bug out or get to the hospital (which is kind of a bug out). If things are that bad, the minimum wage employee isn't going to walk through the elements to get to the gas station that didn't get the fuel shipment, and the power is out anyway. Same thing with the Wal Mart. Not happening.


Getting supplies doesn't work on a snowmobile: they don't hold much. Pretty much what you can get on your person. Yes, the mountain machines have a cargo rack on the back, but the smart folks have fuel strapped to that. I used saddle bags, but by the time you get some emergency gear in those, they are about full. Sleds behind snowmobiles don't work well, and are prone to tipping. You won't be on nicely groomed trails, but pushing that machine to its limits on the drifts and terrain. Even evac to the hospital is iffy: no good way to bring a second person, much less injured unless you have a nice smooth way to get there and have them on a sled.


No, your typical snowmobile isn't the great snowpocolipse tool. A quad converted with tracks or a trail groomer, or other larger multi-track snow machine, yes. I have seen some VERY impressive youtube vids of these track attachments you drive your 1 ton pickup into and the wheel turn the tracks, and they go through some impressive shit. I have long wanted to convert an old bronco into a 4 track machine, just for shits and giggles, but in my area of MN, we don't get the snow anymore to justify it.

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Weather changes.  Adapting to it must change as well. We live on higher ground in snow country, about 10 miles from the closet gas station or grocery.  Looking at satellite images of our area shows where lakes and rivers were.  My guess is that someday the lakes will refill and the rivers will flow. Maybe there will be less snow.  

We take advantage of the fruit and vegetables that are grown in our area. In some cases, it's cheaper to buy and process for storage than to grow it.  We do keep a small 'salsa garden' for convenience.

30 miles from us is a medium size city ran by Demonazi Libtards that give away food and money to placate the losers that live there.  The colder weather helps keep the angry yoots inside so there is less crime.  With the race-baiting hatefulness of the No Lives Matter crowd, some of the the crime of home invasions and murders have creeped  to new records this summer. So now, we are starting to really enjoy winter.

I really don't have a point, other than preparing for eventualities for our area is what makes sense to us.

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Actually, studying history shows it is without a doubt a fact that more population=more problems.

I've read your experience, but the perspective of one man, experiencing a slow slide semi-collapse in what was a first world country does not offset millenia of observations.

There is a reason that "run to the hills" has been the default instinct of mankind for many centuries.

Furthermore, many "city people" have expressed that same opinion of "it's dangerous without others around", because they grew up that way and it feels comfortable.

For those of us who grew up on farms and outside, we don't feel the need for that security blanket.

Now, having a support network of people is crucial, whether in town or in the sticks. Mine currently consists of my parents (old time farmers), my best friend (a surgeon), myself, and a couple of co-workers (one of whom did 12 years as a Green Beret). I'd still like to add a few more people, but a network insulated from big crowds does a lot to enhance your chances.
As far as freezing to death, I haven't kept up with where you live now. I live in Fairbanks, AK. It doesn't get much colder than this in the winter. Because of my job, I've had to spend the night UNEXPECTEDLY out in -30. My statement stands, it's much easier to prepare in advance for cold weather than hordes of desperate people.
.

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Farmers getting subsidies is a very new thing. We farmed without such safety nets.

I don't understand how you are dumping on farmers just because some of them get subsidies. City folks....




Maybe your right, we should all abandon any areas with less than tropical weather, and everybody move down south into densely packed cities and try to fend off malaria together. That way we all survive in our megacities and never stray out into the "cursed earth". We can eat recycled food. It's good for the environment and OK for you.

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I do all my best hiking when the temperature is below 10 degrees.

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Ask yourself how often you have to worry about not freezing to death in cold climates vs hordes of desperate people causing problems. Heating with a few candles? Tell that to the folks here investing in quality wood stoves and spending days cutting, hauling, procesing, stacking, seasoning and moving firewood!
FerFAL