Muscle tears seem to happen more often in cold weather, all sorts of things go brittle when they are cold particularly things that contain water like our bodies do.
The current wisdom about stretching is that if you are warming up to do something strenuous each stretch should only be maintained for a few seconds before moving onto the next one. The rationale for this is that if the muscle is more thoroughly stretched the nerve may be temporarily weakened enough (immediately preceding) a vigorous activity to be damaged through sudden over-extension. A large recent study concluded that pre-workout stretching offers no benefits at all.
Warm-down (after you play) and stretching for the sake of extending your natural flexability is a different matter, taking a minimum time of 20 seconds for each stretch will eventually improve your flexability if you pick the right exercises and do them often enough (3 times a week).
Whether warming up or warming down stretching should never be jerky, smooth and gradual helps prevent injury and gives you faster results.
Walking or skipping warms the body quite well as can calisthenics, any physical activity half way between what you are doing and what you intend on doing can prepare you for physical exertion.
Percussive Self Massage can warm your body up for exercise, you see Tai Qi students hit their arms, legs and bodies with their hands before they commence their routine, you will see athletes of the Chinese track and field team do this too before competing. If you have never tried warming up this way give it a try, you might be pleasantly surprised.
“Warming up” is not often recommended as a thing worth doing for sedentary workers but having a brisk walk around the office for a few minutes several times through the day has a similar benefit to using the same activity before exercising. Warming up is all about giving your blood circulation a boost whether you are about to exercise or not.
An extended warm up can be an exercise routine in itself if you are recovering from an illness or returning to activity after a long break. When the weather is cold warming up has added practical value.
Warming up uses calories too if you are not very fit a long warm up can actually be a light work out for you particularly if you are of advanced years.
Even though stretching is not currently in favour as an exercise preparation, there is probably no harm in doing it if you are preparing for a stretching class.