It reads like a pastiche of many true stories. One of the first things that hypothermia does is impair your ability to think rationally.

Basically, a person makes two marginally unwise decisions in a row, the situation snowballs from there, and the person winds up dead or on the brink of death. Occasionally, the victim has a stupid idea that actually warms them back up a bit, and can claw their way back from there.

In this particular story, the first unwise decision was to leave home at all, and the second was to leave the car. Everything that follows is cold brain no thinky good; unsmart.

This is why government spokespeople have to tell everyone to stay home before every predictable winter storm. Cold people are even stupider than normal, and stupid people are a burden on local emergency services.