Turn on your go-to news source, talk to your neighbor, or simply look outside, and you’ll discover that the weather is always an important variable to prepare for. Extreme weather has seemingly become more common in recent years, and storms have become more intense. Over the past few years, the United States has experienced numerous powerful winter storms — for example, the February 2021 Texas freeze that left nearly 10 million people without power, and the December 2022 so-called “bomb cyclone” that affected about 60 percent of the U.S. population with heavy snow and unexpectedly cold temperatures. Places that typically don’t deal with frozen precipitation have found their inhabitants shoveling white powder off of sidewalks and out of driveways.
As a result of these weather patterns, many Americans have realized that they may lack the necessary skills to stay healthy and safe in environmental conditions they’re not used to. Luckily, people who live in the northern regions of North America have a lot of knowledge and experience to share with our southern brethren.
Beyond common practices such as dressing warm and sealing drafts in windows, a contingent of home-grown experts know the techniques that’ll allow one to thrive in even the harshest and most remote winter environments. Jerry Saunders, founder of Corvus Survival, is one such person. I was able to tag along during a cold weather survival training session he put together for Superior Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteers in Upper Michigan.
A Frosty Morning
Our training location, the Lake Linden School Forest, is even further north than Toronto, and the 8 a.m. start time is still 40 minutes before sunrise. Over 100 inches of snow has fallen by this time of the year. The forest floor and surrounding trees are blanketed in sound-deadening powder. It’s a brisk morning, close to 0 degrees F, and we emerge from the warmth of our vehicles to the greetings of Grey Wolves howling from the surrounding forest. The setting seems ominous, but this is a typical morning for the inhabitants of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.), and the SAR volunteers arriving to hone their winter survival skills are enthusiastic about getting started.
Jerry begins the session by sharing with us his background and extensive experience. After spending over a decade in the Marine Corps,
