Forecasters have predicted the coming winter will be under the influence of El Niño. This climate pattern is expected to make the weather a bit milder and dryer for many parts of the country.
But that doesn’t mean special weather events like blizzards or polar vortexes are out of the forecast — those can still happen.
For some people, cold snaps are uncomfortable. But for people with cold-weather-triggering illnesses, cold weather can bring debilitating or even deadly diseases.
Cold weather seems to bring on cold and flu season, however, there is evidence that cold weather can spark other illnesses. In a March 2022 study in Science of the Total Environment, researchers monitored an emergency department in Atlanta, where the temperature rarely drops below freezing. A week following a cold snap, visits to the emergency department for pneumonia or influenza increased by 11 percent, and hospitalizations increased by 8 percent.
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