Ladybugs can be considered cute, and it’s hard to dislike water bugs too. But as you get smaller in the insect world you start to get into the parasite realm and there is nothing to like at all about any parasite. Fleas and ticks are the most nefarious of them, but lice are nasty little critters too and their life their life purpose is to feed on blood too. We don’t have to deal with fleas and ticks, but lice are a very real possibility for humans and head lice in particular. Cold will kill fleas for sure, but can cold weather kill lice too? 

This is a legit question as anything that can be done to eliminate lice before they have a chance to establish themselves is important. Perhaps more so than other parasites, because lice are super contagious and if you are in close proximity to someone who has them it’s darn likely they’ll make their way over to you too. Lice in school has been a huge problem with young children in school for generations, and all it takes is one child with lice to ensure that most of them have it soon after. They have no way to bundle up, so can lice survive in cold weather.  

That can include incidental environmental exposure. If little Johnny is walking home after school at 3pm in Bismarck, ND in January or somewhere similar is there any chance those lice might freeze to death during the trip? That’s what people are going to be wondering here with can cold weather kill lice. When you have lice you’re going to start to experience intense itching, and if it’s head lice that’s going to be occurring on your scalp. That’s something parents or teachers can be on the lookout for.  

No Such Luck  

Unfortunately the truth with does cold weather kill lice is that it doesn’t. You wouldn’t guess that lice would be impervious to extreme cold, but they are. No one is going to say that lice can hold their liquor, but it seems that it’s quite a regularly propagated myth that cold can kill lice. The opposite is certainly true, as extreme heat will kill lice really quickly once it goes over 130 degrees Fahrenheit. The primary reason the cold won’t kill them is because head lice are going to be on the scalp and body lice are going to be on the body.  

Humans are warm-blood mammals and so the parasites are insulated against the cold just by being on the skin. The human scalp stays at around 98 degrees and so lice that are there won’t be bothered at all if the mercury is well below zero. That’s the reality with can cold weather kill lice. It can’t if the lice are on the body, but if they’re off the body then they can be frozen to death. Put lice combs or anything else you think might have the parasites them into the freezer after use.