If you’re stranded in your car in winter, stay with the car and call 911. Clear any snow from the exhaust pipe before you run the engine, then run it for about 10 minutes every hour to stay warm. While you wait, make the car easy to see and hold on to your body heat.

Stay with your car

Stay with the car unless you know exactly where you are. The National Weather Service’s blizzard advice is the same: if you get stranded, stay with your vehicle and wait for help to arrive. Massachusetts emergency managers add that walking in a storm can be very dangerous, especially if you lose your way.

Don’t wear yourself out trying to push the car or shovel it free. NHTSA and Massachusetts both warn against overexertion. Take a breath and think through the steps below.

Call for help

Call 911 first. Tell the dispatcher where you are, who is with you, how everyone is doing and what happened, then follow their instructions. Stay on the line until you know who you spoke with and what happens next.

Run the engine safely

• Check the exhaust pipe first. Snow blocking the pipe can push deadly carbon monoxide into the car. Clear it before you start the engine, and check it again before each run.
• Run the engine and heater for about 10 minutes every hour, depending on how much gas you have.
• Keep at least one window open slightly. Heavy snow and ice can seal a car shut.
• At night, turn on the dome light while the engine runs, so rescuers can see you.

Make the car easy to see

• Tie a bright cloth to the antenna or a door handle.
• If you have flares, set one at each end of the car, a safe distance away.
• Keep a bright flag or a help sign in the car for this. The CDC puts one on its winter car kit list.

When you step out to clear the exhaust or set a flare, make yourself easy to see too. The Hero Poncho is bright orange, so you stand out on a dark roadside, and its Mylar helps hold in your body heat while you’re out in the wind and snow. It fits kids and adults up to 7 ft.

Hold on to your body heat

Between engine runs, the car cools down, and that’s where most of the waiting happens. Massachusetts emergency managers suggest:

• Loosen tight clothes so your blood keeps moving.
• Change position often, and huddle with anyone else in the car.
• Rub your hands together or tuck them under your arms. Every so often, take your shoes off and rub your feet.
• Stay dry. Sweaty, wet clothes lose their insulation and make hypothermia more likely.

Then get into an emergency sleeping bag. The Hero Survival Bag fits in the glove box and packs smaller than a soda can. Unroll it, climb in, and its Mylar reflects your body heat back toward you. It fits an adult up to 7 ft and 300 lb. Use it with your coat and any blankets in the car. Here’s how to use an emergency sleeping bag.

Watch for the warning signs of cold

Keep an eye on everyone in the car, yourself included. The CDC lists these warning signs of hypothermia in adults: shivering, exhaustion, confusion, fumbling hands, memory loss, slurred speech and drowsiness. Redness or pain in any patch of skin may be the first sign of frostbite. If you see them, call 911 again and tell the dispatcher.

Pack the car before the next storm

When a blizzard warning is out, the National Weather Service’s advice is to stay off the road. If you have to drive, take a winter survival kit with you.

NHTSA’s winter list for the car includes blankets, a flashlight, flares or other warning devices, a phone and charger, water, food, any medicine you need, a first aid kit, jumper cables, a snow shovel, an ice scraper and sand or kitty litter for traction. Our car emergency kit checklist covers more.

Most of that lives in the trunk. The two things that keep you warm and easy to spot fit in the glove box: the Hero Survival Bag and the Hero Poncho. Put one of each in every car in the family, so they’re there the night someone needs them. See everything for the road in our Survival collection.

Get the Hero Survival Bag