Citation

Lester D. Crisis Interv. 1970; 2(Suppl 2): 44-45.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1970, Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We wondered whether severe winters had any effect on the suicide rate in Buffalo. The severity of the winters in Buffalo was measured by nothing the number of inches of snow that fell during the winter. This information is released by the United States Weather Bureau which measures the snowfall each winter from October through April.

The number of suicides occurring in Buffalo and Erie County each month from 1958 to 1969 was obtained from the Department of Biostatistics of the Erie County Health Department.

Considering the City of Buffalo alone, the number of suicides occurring in each three-month period of the year was correlated with the snowfall of the previous winter.11 For example, the number of suicides from January to March, 1958 was compare with the snowfall in the 1957- 1958 winter and so on.

The results indicated that there is an association between a heavy snowfall in winter and a large number of suicides in the same winter followed by a small number of suicides in the summer. ...

Language: en