A woman was found lying in the middle of a northeast Austin street early Saturday, suffering severe frost bite.

Temperatures at the time had plunged to double-digits below zero with a wind-chill factor making it even colder.

The woman was conscious enough to tell the investigating officer she was walking home from the downtown bars, when she passed out.

Police theorized she fell into snow piled along a sidewalk and then crawled into the street.

A Gold Cross Ambulance Service crew rushed her to Austin Medical Center – Mayo Health System for treatment to exposure to the severe cold weather.

According to an Austin Police Department report, an officer on routine patrol came upon the woman, lying in the street, at 3:31 a.m. Saturday.

A man, Terrence Rutledge, 61 of Austin, had called the Austin – Mower County Law Enforcement Center with a cell phone from his pickup truck after coming across the scene.

The officer described her skin as “white and waxy” and reported her abdomen and leg flanks were “frozen to the touch.”

According to police, the woman and Rutledge did not know each other.

The woman found in the 500 block of Second Avenue Northeast.