Preparing for the deep freeze: How to stay safe during cold snap

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (WGME) — Friday and Saturday will show the coldest temperatures Maine has had in five years -- and wind chills will become extreme.

Temperatures will fall into the low single digits by mid-day Friday. Expect temperatures to be -10 to -20 degrees early Saturday morning. Highs will in the single digits Saturday. Wind chills will be -30 to -40 degrees inland and -45 to -55 degrees in the Maine mountains.

These temperatures aren't are unsafe, especially if you have to be outside for more than a few minutes.

It only takes a couple minutes in these elements to get frostbite.

Frostbite is when your skin starts to freeze.

According to the Mayo Clinic, in the earliest stage of frostbite, known as "frostnip," there is no permanent damage to skin. Symptoms include cold skin and a prickling feeling, followed by numbness, and inflamed or discolored skin. As frostbite worsens, skin may become hard or waxy looking.

You can treat frostnip by rewarming. All other frostbite requires medical attention because it can permanently damage skin, muscle, bone, and other tissue, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Maine Medical Center Chair of Emergency Medicine Dr. Michael Baumann says not to leave any skin exposed as it only takes a couple minutes to get frostbite, especially on your cheeks and nose and other spots without good blood supply.

You can heal from stage 1 frostbite, as you get up in the stages, its much like a thermal burn it gets worse and worse and it’s harder to heal. Severe levels of frostbite, it's much like a severe burn. Often there’s tissue damage, sometimes you need grafting, it gets absolutely worse as you go up in the level,” Baumann said.

Severe frostbite can be like a burn, and you could end up at the doctor or hospital, but you can treat early stages at home, but don’t just crank the hot water right away.

Once your hands are frostbitten you don’t have good sensation. So, you’re going to want to make sure that the temperature of the water is not burning because you may not realize it but you can cause more damage by burning yourself from the hot water,” Baumann said.

It's also time to get your house and car ready.

Pipes are vulnerable when it gets this cold, especially the exterior ones.

Greg Goan from Zoom Drain in Scarborough, Maine said wind chills impact pipes the same way they impacts you.

The Red Cross recommended dripping your faucet with cold water to keep the pipes flowing.

Goan clarified some misconceptions when it comes to getting your house ready.

So, the biggest thing we found is a lot of people like to turn their temperature down at night. Don’t turn down your temperature at night. Couple reasons. One, you want to maintain your heat throughout the night when this cold weather hits. Two, when you turn your temp down at night, your heat system won’t cycle for a while, during that down period the heat lines can actually freeze,” Goan said.

Experts said when you drip your faucet, the water coming out should be the size of a tip of a pencil. You should also keep your garage doors shut.

Before you even get in your car, there are things you can, do as well.

AAA said car batteries last three to five years and the optimal temp to run them at is 80 degrees.

So, with the forecast, you want to make sure you're prepared. Take a moment to look under the hood and see if there's any corrosion.

When it comes to dropping to below 30 and to about zero degrees, you lose about 60 percent of that battery starting power, and at the same time, the engine needs about two times as much power to start than it would at a higher temperature. So, at a time like we’re going to see the next couple days, your battery needs to be in tip-top shape because it’s really going to be put to the test,” said Pat Moody, with AAA Northern New England.

Moody said to make sure your battery doesn’t get too weak get outside and run your car for a few minutes. He also said it's important to make sure things like phone chargers are unplugged.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: WGME'sAriana St Pierre contributed to this report.