Winter or Summer

[Tiger]

I'm not directly answering the question. Please take the poll before reading this article. I want to know which season people think is the bigger killer before finding out the actual answer.. Also, please do NOT take a peek at the poll results before answering. Answer based on what you think, not what others do. When you're done taking the poll, find the answer here.

[Graeme]

You didn't give an option for 'it depends' That's why I can't answer it.

 

Winter in some places is more severe than others, and in those places it can be a bigger killer than it would be in other places where Winter tends to be mild. As an example, we would rarely have ice on the roads here in Melbourne, so deaths due to ice are much rarer than they would be in somewhere like the UK. Similarly, Summer deaths are often based on regional factors. The weather can kill (eg. heatwaves), but I suspect the bigger killer would be Summer activities.

 

EDIT TO ADD:

 

The article confirms my 'it depends' response. While it nominates Winter as the deadlier season, it also says the following:

The cold-equals-death equation is turned on its head for much of the developing world, where gastrointestinal problems (such as diarrhea, gastroenteritis, and dysentery) that flourish during the summer account for a significant portion of all deaths. Also, in much of the developing world, winter-month temperatures remain semi-tropical, making it difficult to die of cold-related causes. Furthermore, many of the rich persons' diseases that fell the elderly in the developed world, with a bit of help from the cold—like strokes and heart disease—figure less prominently on the list of the leading causes of mortality in the Third World.

 

So, it's regional It also makes the point that it doesn't apply in the tropics, where there really isn't a cold season.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Graeme

[Tiger]

I can see your point Graeme, but the majority of people live in the Northern Hemisphere, and I happen to fall into that category. This poll is aimed more at people who live in climates more consistent with North America, Europe, and most of Asia. I have no doubt that summer is a bigger killer in Australia.

[Graeme]

I can see your point Graeme, but the majority of people live in the Northern Hemisphere, and I happen to fall into that category. This poll is aimed more at people who live in climates more consistent with North America, Europe, and most of Asia. I have no doubt that summer is a bigger killer in Australia.

Actually, I suspect more people die in Winter in Australia than Summer, but that won't be evenly distributed across the country. I don't see that in the tropical areas (the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland) that there would be much of a difference between the two seasons. In the southern states, however, the medical impact of colder weather would probably outweigh the 'invincible young male' syndrome that strikes during Summer.

 

Most people still die from non-seasonal reasons, such as just old age, heart attacks, strokes, etc. Identifying seasonal causes can be tricky -- all you can really do is count the total number of deaths in each month and see if there is a year-on-year trend. That correlation, though, doesn't necessarily mean that there is a causal link.

[Bumblebee]

i chose summer, because... i would rather be working/riding when its freezing cold (well by perth coldness) and raining then when it hits 43C+

 

plus when its really hot in summer, and your outdoors, you cant really do much about it, except go to the already over-crowed beaches, or run up you power bill with the air-con on

but in winter, you can keep warmish, and sort of dry.... even if you look like a giant snowman, without the snow... cause it doesnt snow here

 

 

[Krista]

Heh.. it depends on just how bad the season is.. Typically more people die in winter because that is when viruses and disease runs their courses. But then again, I voted on Summer, because I assumed through out the planet summer would be more deadly in some regions than in others. Like in Humid/sub tropical you have the four seasons, but in other places you only have two. Dry summers and Wet winters.. in climates like those where rain is scarce I would think more people would suffer and die in the summer months compared to their "time of plenty," when it rains in the winter and is cooler.

 

But yes, where I live Winter would kill more people than summer as it hardly ever reaches heat wave digits here that lasts... and ice storms, flu out breaks, power outages, are all more common in winter.

[Arpeggio]

I pick Summer I'll edit and say if I was right or wrong

I was wrong

Edited June 24, 2010 by Arpeggio

[PrivateTim]

It has to be winter because sometimes in winter it plunges to 52 degrees in southern California

[Tiger]

I think it's funny that people are picking summer. Summer temps can be hard to bear. There's no doubt about that, but there's a reason why you hear on the news that the police try to talk the homeless into seeking shelter during cold snaps and that you don't hear about them doing the same during heat waves. Cold snaps are more deadly.

[Graeme]

I think it's funny that people are picking summer. Summer temps can be hard to bear. There's no doubt about that, but there's a reason why you hear on the news that the police try to talk the homeless into seeking shelter during cold snaps and that you don't hear about them doing the same during heat waves. Cold snaps are more deadly.

But that's weather. The question was about seasons, not weather. If you'd asked about weather, I would have been happy to say that cold weather is more deadly than hot weather Seasons, on the other hand, are different. Winter in Queensland, for example, is probably as deadly as Summer in Tasmania. And probably not much different from Summer in Queensland.

[Procyon]

I picked winter because I knew that was correct for Northern Europe (and the Northern Hemisphere I suppose), but I wasn't sure about the rest of the world -- but I did know that heart attacks increase during the cold season, and not only if you don't dress properly, and I did know that most deaths occur at 3 a.m. on January nights here in Northern Europe.

 

However, I suppose there must be more people in the developing world than in the northern part of the northern hemisphere, really... so is this really valid?

[Bumblebee]

i wish i chose winter...... im on my death bed right now after walking outside, -1C

[jon-jon]

I think it's funny that people are picking summer.

 

Heh! Heh! I was trying to out psych you after reading your initial post and picked summer! More fool me!

[Mark Arbour]

It has to be winter because sometimes in winter it plunges to 52 degrees in southern California

 

Sometimes I hate you. I really do.

 

But this former California boy has discovered that winters are a cakewalk compared to summers.

 

Hot in LA? Find some shade. Mist yourself. Take off your clothes.

Hot in the Midwest? Shade won't help, because the f**king humidity lets the heat permeate even shaded areas. No need to mist, the wet air's already done that for you. Take off your clothes..well..a bunch of bible-thumpers will come along and arrest you.

[Tipdin]

It has to be winter because sometimes in winter it plunges to 52 degrees in southern California

 

 

Fifty-two? Come visit me in the winter, I'll show you 52 - BELOW! Fifty-two degrees is when we put shorts on.

[Aeroplane]

I think that to an extent cold and hot snaps are discountable. They cause what is called 'the harvester effect', eg all the already weak people who will die in the next few weeks instead die in the snap.

[Guest Purple Ink]

I rather be hot than cold, don't really like it. Plus in the summer days seem to go on forever, which is awesome!

[Jack Frost]

I picked summer.

 

Then I went to read the link. Yep, I'm right.

 

I looked at Stat-Québec and saw that more people died in summertime and less in winter. The low is during February at 6,600 and it rises to 7,800 in July where it plateaus and starts falling by September.

 

25C is when I start to crank up the AC to the max and at 35C I lay on bed dying of a crippling heatstroke.

 

At -35C, it's not much of a problem to go out on the balcony to smoke shirtless. It feels so refreshing.

 

I hate summers. Too hot. Too humid. Too sticky. I'd rather freeze my nuts off in a snowstorm and cold snap because I handle them much better.

 

i wish i chose winter...... im on my death bed right now after walking outside, -1C

-1C in January or February is considered to be a major heatwave. Trust me, when the day before was -20C and the next 0C... you'd think like that.

 

-1C is when I leave my winter coat and put on my hoodies.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Jack Frost