A lucky Swiss man survived being trapped in a snow-covered car for two months during a harsh winter thanks to the snow shelter effect.
Skyllberg’s car covered in snow for 60 days. (Photo: Reuters).
Peter Skyllberg, then 44 years old, became trapped in his car on December 19, 2011, near the city of Umeå in northeastern Switzerland. Outdoor temperatures dropped to -30 degrees Celsius, and heavy snowfall nearly completely buried the car, preventing him from escaping. Skyllberg was discovered on February 17, 2012, 60 days after he went missing, when two snowmobilers passed by the buried vehicle and suspected someone had been left behind. When they cleared snow from the car’s windows and looked inside, they quickly realized someone was in distress and alerted emergency services.
Ebbe Nyberg, a local police officer at the scene, reported that Skyllberg was found in a sleeping bag and could speak a little, but his condition was very poor. The man survived by drinking melted snow, but there was no evidence of any food. All that was found in the car was a bottle of soda, cigarettes, and a few comic books.
Peter Skyllberg survived inside this frozen car for two months by eating a handful of snow when temperatures dropped to -30°C. (Photo: Dailymail).
After treating the victim, Dr. Ulf Segerberg, the medical director at Norrland University Hospital, stated that he had never encountered a case like this before. The most likely reason Skyllberg survived was due to the “snow shelter” effect created by the thick snow covering his car. Even in sub-zero temperatures, a snow shelter can be extremely warm inside due to the source of internal heat (body heat or a fire or heater), which is retained by the insulating properties of the walls. Skyllberg’s car was wrapped in a thick layer of snow, acting like a blanket.
The source of heat here was Skyllberg’s metabolic process, albeit at a very low level. Body heat is generated through metabolism, in which the body converts food into energy, producing heat as a byproduct. Since the man had not eaten adequately for many weeks, his metabolic process was very slow, but it still produced enough heat to keep him alive, similar to a candle in the dark. “Snow shelters typically have temperatures close to 0 degrees Celsius. If you prepare your clothing well, you can survive at that temperature and maintain your body temperature,” Dr. Segerberg noted.
Although protected from the frigid outside environment, Skyllberg’s body temperature still dropped to about 31 degrees Celsius, a concerning low level. A healthy person typically has a body temperature of around 37 degrees Celsius, and hypothermia is recorded at a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius. The lowest recorded body temperature was 11.8 degrees Celsius in a 27-month-old boy who wandered barefoot outside his grandmother’s house in Poland when the temperature dropped to -7 degrees Celsius. The child recovered without serious brain damage but required extracorporeal oxygen therapy.
Skyllberg was fortunate to require only standard treatment at the hospital. However, his story is remarkable not only because of the extreme low temperatures but also due to the duration his body endured.
