Sherae Honeycutt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Original Post

If you’re headed out for New Year’s Eve, you want to look good.

Unfortunately, that cute skirt or pair of heels won’t go well with the freezing temperatures predicted.

“It can sneak up on people,” said Ryan Jacobsen, an acting physician with Truman Medical Center.

Jacobsen said he sees it every chilly holiday.

“When you’re going out for a night on the town, you don’t necessarily think about planning for some worst case scenario,” he said.

People dressed to impress — but not concerned about the cold waiting outside the party.

“You can get cold, and hypothermia can be a life threatening thing,” Jacobsen said. “So we can see this in young, healthy people who are intoxicated and end up outside.”

But not everyone’s convinced.

“I don’t really think that the cold can deter me from wearing anything,” said Drew Higgins, who’s celebrating the New Year in KCMO.

“I actually just got something down here at The Plaza,” Higgins said. “It’s like a black skirt with a black bodysuit and black boots.”

“I got this black bodysuit to wear with a skirt and some shoes,” her friend Haylee Moore said.

They know it’s going to be cold, so they have a plan.

“Definitely going to try and go straight from the car into wherever I’m going and be in the cold as little as possible. I think that will help a lot,” Higgins said.

“If you’re going to go out this New Year’s Eve, it`s going to be in the single digits or below zero,” Jacobsen said. “Dress appropriately. Obviously stay in groups.”

Jacobsen said it’s important not to get isolated if you’ve been drinking heavily in this frigid weather the metro is expected to see.

“It’s going to be freezing, and I’m probably going to regret my decision to not wear a coat and a skirt, but I don’t know — fashion above everything,” Higgins said.

With temperatures in the single digits, be sure to bundle up. Doctors say hypothermia can set in within an hour of being outside.