Alan, drinking is worse when exposed to the elements. It robs the body of its ability to control its own heating and cooling process, not to mention it robs one of good sense. Believe this or not we had a crew pick up a homeless man in Lake Charles, Louisiana once who died in the emergency room from hypothermia. The low temp that night was about 50 degrees give or take a degree or two. The Docs told us his body simply couldn't deal with the exposure and alcohol at the same time.

If a 10 degree increase in body temp can be fatal the same holds true for loss of temp. If I recall correctly 4 or 5 degree drops in body temp can be fatal. We are fragile creatures.