“It makes it hard to place people,” Martin said.

Martin said that summers are usually busier for emergency departments because there are a lot more sports-related injuries. But in winter, there are more people admitted to the hospital, including people with heart attacks brought on by snow shoveling .

Ordinarily, Martin said, the hospital doesn’t see this kind of volume until January.

“It’s early this year,” she said.

So is the seriously cold weather.

Bill Jacquemin, chief meteorologist with the Connecticut Weather Center in Danbury said Wednesday, that average daytime temperatures in western Connecticut for December run around 35 degrees to 40 degrees,

This December, he said, temperatures are averaging 5 to 7 degrees below normal. While there have been a few warmers that average days — one is expected on Sunday — Jacquemin said there have also been a lot of December days this month locked in the 20s, with evening temperatures dropping into the teens.

Not every hospital is seeing a crowd of winter patients. Melissa Lopardo, spokeswoman at Stamford Hospital said while there have been the occasional upward bumps, the hospital census has been fairly normal over the month.

And Ivy said he expects volumes to go down as Christmas approaches, as surgeons put off elective procedures until after the holidays. At Bridgeport Hospital, he said, there was a drop in the inpatient numbers around Thanksgiving for that reason.

Koobatian, at New Milford Hospital, said that what’s worrisome is this: hospitals are running at near-capacity before the influenza season hits.

“The usually starts after the holidays,” Koobatian said. “People travel all over the country and come back with the flu.”

“We’re tight as it is,” Koobatian said of the number of people filling bed in New Milford and Danbury hospitals. “It will be harder with the flu.”

bmiller@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345