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The study deals with an assessment and interpretation of the bioclimatic conditions in Vranje (southern Serbia). The study aims at temporal distributions of bioclimatic conditions focussing on extreme thermal stress based on the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). The meteorological data required for the calculation of UTCI concern hourly (7 and 14 CET) weather data collected for the period 2000-2017. The frequency of very strong heat stress (VSHS), very strong cold stress (VSCS) and extreme cold stress (ECS) for both morning and midday hours. Furthermore, the daily difference of the UTCI hourly values (diurnal UTCI change) are specified, giving the daily variance of heat and cold stress. The results revealed the frequency of days in which thermal stress prevails for the studied period. The obtained results show an increase in extreme heat biothermal conditions, while extreme cold biothermal conditions are in decline, especially in the last 10 years. However, the frequency (the number of days) of very strong heat stress (VSHS) increased since 2007. A spectacular increase in heat stress was observed in the month of September, particularly in 2015.

Camping is the largest sub-sector of outdoor tourism, is growing in popularity, and is increasingly accessible to a diverse population of new campers. An outdoor accommodation and form of recreatio...

Tourism is one of the spearhead economic sectors of every country in the world and sensitive to weather conditions. The climate is one of the most important factors for each destination for vacation and recreation. Almost the measures are primarily based on particular local weather and climate, and part of them deals with energy balance estimation to assess thermal comfort. Tourism climate indicator developed by Mieczkowski (1985) incorporates 7 climate variables (average temperature, maximum temperature, average humidity, minimum humidity, precipitation, number of sunny hours, wind speed) relevant to general tourism activities is used to assess potential impacts of climate change on tourism climate resources of Co To islands in the Tonkin Gulf of Vietnam. The monthly tourism climate indicator classification results show that the tourism potentials of Co To islands range from unfavorable (30–39) to very good (70–79) in March, April, November and December. Daily tourism climate indicator classification results indicate that tourism potentials are from extremely unfavorable (20–29) to excellent (80–89). The days at very good to excellent for travel are on 2nd, 3rd, 5–7th of January; 6–8th and 20–28th of February; 1st–8th, 12–17th and 20–28th of March; 1st–2nd,4–13th, 15–18th of April; 21st–24th of September; 1st–4th, 6th, 8–10th, 12th, 13th of November; 1st–26th of December. These findings are important for future research in assessing current and future climate suitability for sustainable tourism development.

The aim of this paper is to understand the role of the macrocirculation factor in shaping the dynamics of long-term bioclimatic conditions, with reference to Kłodzko in the Polish part of the Central Sudetes. The variability of bioclimatic conditions in Kłodzko for the period 1966–2017 was analysed, exposing its local specificity. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was taken as an indicator of the analysed bioclimatic features. The influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on the variability of this index and its constituent meteorological elements, e.g. air temperature, vapour pressure, wind speed, and solar conditions, was examined. On the basis of the winter NAO Hurrell coefficient, the analysed years were divided into two opposing groups representing either a negative or positive Hurrell index. A comparison between these two year-groups for the mean values of UTCI and the examined meteorological elements showed a clear intergroup difference in these values. Except for cloudiness, the importance of the macrocirculation genesis of NAO was verified by the statistically significant correlation between the Hurrell index on the one hand and the tested UTCI index and its constituent meteorological elements on the other.

This study consists of nine case studies addressing thermal comfort in the public areas of city centres, with particular emphasis on the measurable effects of blue and green infrastructure on thermal exposure. Daytime on-site measurements were taken in summer in the paved areas of squares, in the proximity of water fountains, and in the shade of trees in order to evaluate levels of heat stress based on the universal thermal climate index (UTCI). The differences in UTCI values between the research points confirm substantial cooling associated with high vegetation (trees induced differences up to 10.5 °C in UTCI), while the measurable cooling effect of low vegetation was negligible (not more than 2.3 °C UTCI). It was also quite low around water fountains, spray fountains, and misting systems. It follows that municipal authorities should consider the differences in cooling effect potential of individual types of blue and green infrastructure when incorporating climate adaptation measures into urban planning.

The aim of the study was to establish to what extent extreme thermal conditions have changed and how they affected mortality, and what conditions favor lower mortality rates or conversely, higher mortality rates. Heat/cold exposure was measured with the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Daily mortality and meteorological data for 8 large Polish cities (Białystok, Gdańsk, Kraków, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Warszawa, and Wrocław) in the period 1975–2014 were analyzed. Generalized additive models were used to investigate the relationship between UTCI and mortality, and TBATS models were used for the evaluation of time series UTCI data. Most of the cities experienced a clear and statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05 decrease in cold stress days of 0.8–3.3 days/year and an increase in the frequency of thermal heat stress days of 0.3–0.6 days/year until 1992–1994. There was a clear difference as regards the dependence of mortality on UTCI between cities located in the “cooler” eastern part of Poland and the “warmer” central and western parts. “Cool” cities were characterized by a clear thermal optimum, approx. in the range of 5–30 °C UTCI, changing slightly depending on cause of death, age, or sex. For UTCI over 32 °C, in most of the cities except Gdańsk and Lublin, the relative risk of death (RR) rose by 10 to 20%; for UTCI over 38 °C, RR rose to 25–30% in central Poland. An increase in mortality on cold stress days was noted mainly in the “cool” cities: RR of total mortality increased even by 9–19% under extreme cold stress.

Climatic resources are vitally important for tourism, driving major intra- and inter-regional travel flows for sun-sand-surf (3S) tourism around the world. The development of climate indices to measure the suitability of climate for major tourism market segments has evolved over three decades. This study provides the first application of the holiday climate index (HCI):Beach specification in the Asia-Pacific tourism region. The HCI is designed from international tourist climate preference studies and is compared with the tourism climate index (TCI), which is widely applied, but not based on tourist climate preferences. The index inter-comparison is conducted at 14 of the most popular beach resort destinations in China, which include four geographic regions of China with four different Köppen classifications. The results show key differences between the two indices in rating the climatic suitability of the selected beach destinations in China, with the TCI rating beach destinations in the north and south higher during the spring and fall seasons, which is not consistent with beach tourism visits. During the summer months, southern destinations have much higher HCI:Beach rating, reflecting the 3S tourists' desire for higher temperatures. The findings reinforce those from other tourism regions that indicate the TCI is not appropriate for assessing 3S tourism potential and that additional cross-cultural studies of tourist climate indices are needed to better inform market segment climate service development and to understand the potential impacts of future climate change.

The present study attempts to assess changes in soccer players’ physical and technical activity profiles due to thermal stress, measured with the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), in training centres and during matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The study also verifies the theoretical models of soccer players’ physiological parameters. The study sample consisted of 945 observations of 340 players of national teams taking part in the World Cup in Russia. The measured variables included physical activities: total distance covered, distances covered with an intensity of 20–25 km/h, number of sprints; technical activities: number of shots, number of passes, pass accuracy and physiological indicators: evaporative water loss and heart rate. In addition, the final ranking places of each national team were also used in the study. The UTCI was calculated based on meteorological data recorded at training centres and during matches. The UTCI records were then classified into two ranges: NTS—no thermal stress (UTCI 9–26 °C) and TS—thermal stress (UTCI > 26 °C). Climatic conditions at soccer training centres assessed as involving “no thermal stress” are found to be more beneficial for increasing the total distance covered and the number of sprints performed by players during a match. The theoretical models for determining soccer players’ physiological parameters used in the study reduce the players’ heart rate effort and evaporative water loss, which is in line with findings in studies by other authors. The climatic conditions at soccer training centres and during tournament matches should be taken into account in planning preparations for future World Cup tournaments, especially those in hotter countries.

The aim of this study is to evaluate human thermal comfort in different green area settings in the city of Florence by using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Field measurements of air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, wind speed and black globe thermometer were collected during hot summer days in various parts of Cascine Park, the biggest urban park in Florence (Italy). UTCI was evaluated over different surfaces (asphalt, gravel and grass) completely exposed to the sun or shaded by a large lime tree (Tilia × europaea). The results showed strong differences in UTCI values depending on the exposure to tree shade, while no significant difference was found among ground-cover materials when all surfaces were equally exposed to solar radiation. Future studies are needed to investigate the microclimatic effects of different tree species on UTCI.

The objective of this paper is to describe bioclimatic conditions in Lublin and Radawiec in the period 1976–2015 using the UTCI index. The paper shows that in Lublin and Radawiec, the most frequent biometeorological conditions caused no heat stress and were neutral for the human organism. At the analysed stations, biometeorological conditions causing cold stress occurred more frequently than those causing heat stress. Biometeorological conditions in the analysed period were characterised by high year-to-year variability. We observed that in recent years there was an increase in frequency of conditions favouring heat stress and a decrease in conditions favouring cold stress.

In mountain areas, air circulation plays a major role in the forming of the climate. This paper examines how it influences thermal stress in the northern Carpathians. The Niedźwiedź’s classification of air circulation was applied. Thermal stress was assessed by Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Daily meteorological and circulation data for the period 1986–2015 were used for 20 stations in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. Air circulation was found to have a significant impact on thermal stress. The highest UTCI values are observed at Ca+Ka (centre of the high and anticyclonic wedge or ridge of high pressure) and the lowest values at N+NE and W+NW circulation; at the Southward stations, UTCI is higher than in the Northward ones; thermoneutral days are more frequent on the southward than on the northward slopes; during N+NE, E+SE and W+NW circulation and for heat stress days, the greatest thermal privilege of the southward slopes is observed at E+SE, S+SW, Ca+Ka and Cc+Bc (centre of low and through of low pressure) types of circulation.

The paper analyses the temporal and spatial variability of the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) in Poland in summer. Summer is the season with the highest intensity of tourism traffic that is why it is important to determine biometeorological conditions, especially in popular tourist destinations such as coastal, mountain and urban areas, in the times of climate changes. The analysis was based on data from 18 stations of IMGW-PIB (Institute of Meteorology and Water Management—National Research Institute), distributed evenly in the territory of the country, and representing all eight bioclimatic regions. The data include air temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity and cloudiness at 12 UTC from summer months: June, July and August from the years 2001–2018. Thermoneutral zone was the most frequently occurring UTCI class in Poland. It was recorded during 56–75% of summer days (with the exception of mountain stations, where it occurred on 30–35% of days). Moderate heat stress is the second most frequently occurring category with a frequency from 18 to 29% with the exception of mountain and coastal areas. Extreme and very strong cold stress occurred particularly in high mountain stations, and was sporadically observed at the coast of the Baltic Sea; however, the occurrence of such conditions decreases, which if favourable for beach tourism. No cases of extreme heat stress were recorded in any of the stations. The most unfavourable bioclimatic conditions were characteristic of the Upland Region (IV), represented by Kraków and Sandomierz, where very strong heat stress occurred with a 10% frequency. This is a limitation for urban tourism in those regions. The highest UTCI values were recorded in Kraków on 17 July 2007 and 29 July 2005. The highest number of cases with strong and very strong heat stress was recorded in 2015 as a consequence of the heat wave observed in Poland in the first half of August. In the majority of the analysed stations, in the second half of the analysed period (2010–2018), an increase in the number of days with strong and very strong heat stress was observed in comparison with the first half of period (2001–2009). The highest frequency of such days was observed in July. Based on the data, there are 4 potential periods of occurrence of such days, with two most intense being 26. July–13 August and 14–22 July.

The incidence of asthma exacerbation depends on atmospheric conditions, including such meteorological factors as the ambient temperature, relative air humidity or concentration of atmospheric aerosols. An assessment of relations between the frequency of asthma exacerbation and environmental conditions was made according to the meteorological components, the biometeorological index UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index), as well as selected air quality parameters, including concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5. The study was conducted on the basis of a retrospective analysis of medical data collected at the Independent Public Hospital of Tuberculosis and Pulmonary Diseases in Olsztyn (Poland). Our analysis of patient data (from 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2017) showed a significant correlation between the number of asthma exacerbation and the UTCI value. More frequent asthma exacerbations are observed in patients aged over 65 years when air humidity increases. The UTCI values contained within class 5, describing thermoneutral conditions, correspond to an average frequency of asthma exacerbation. A decline in the UTCI value leads to a reduced number of asthma exacerbation, while a rise makes the cases of asthma exacerbations increase.

The impact of climatic conditions on human beings can be assessed using bioclimatic indices. In this study, the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was applied to assess the bioclimate in Russia. Seasonal features, region-specific features, and extreme values of the UTCI were considered in the climatic conditions of 2001-2015. The UTCI values for the datasets were obtained in the daytime (at 15:00) and at night (at 03:00) in the territory of Russia using the software package BioKlima 2.6. Daily current meteorological data were used as input for the calculations, including air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and total cloud cover. It was established that all categories of cold stress and almost all categories of heat stress are observed in Russia, but the cold stress conditions prevail. In winter, cold stress of various categories predominated over almost the entire territory in both the daytime and at night. In summer, conditions of no heat stress and comfort were observed in the largest part of Russia, while conditions of moderate heat stress were noted in the south of the European part during daytime hours. Extreme cold stress occurred over almost the entire territory of Russia with the exception of the west border, the foothills of the Caucasus and the coasts of the Black and Caspian Seas. In the largest part of the country, the maximum UTCI values for the study period corresponded to slight and strong heat stress.

Soil moisture is an important variable affecting land surface and climate interactions. This study used cross-wavelet and wavelet coherence methods to analyze the relationship between soil moisture and climatic factors in the study area based on the soil moisture data sequence and corresponding meteorological data observed on the surface of the desert steppe in Inner Mongolia. The results showed that soil moisture had a relatively high- or low-value period for months or even years. Soil moisture was significantly different between different slope positions and soil layers. The fluctuation and mean of soil moisture decreased gradually with the deepening of soil depth. The relationship between soil moisture and meteorological factors varied with time scales. The influence of precipitation on soil moisture was significant at time scales of 1–6 months and 10–15 months, while air temperature and soil temperature showed stable and continuous periodic influence on soil moisture at the time scale of 10–15 months. Climate indexes for the Pacific region, Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and North Atlantic Oscillation index (NAO) were the main climatic factors controlling soil moisture in the Inner Mongolia desert steppe and strongly correlated with soil moisture primarily on time scales of 4–7 months and 10–15 months. Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Indian Ocean basin-wide warming (IOBW) showed a strong lag effect on soil moisture.

Over the last two decades, urban geometry has been shown to be a key determinant of the microclimatic conditions in urban areas. This study uses the Ladybug-tools, the plugins of Grasshopper3D to optimise building heights, street widths and orientation to maximise outdoor thermal comfort, represented by the diurnal average Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). In the hot-arid climate of Cairo, Egypt, the optimised parameters of symmetrical and asymmetrical urban canyons are compared with the Egyptian Construction Act's design regulations. The results show a strong negative correlation between the height-to-width (H/W) ratios and the output UTCI, with R² = 0.71, and much stronger (R² = 0.91) if east-west orientations are excluded from the results, exceeding correlations previously reported for Cairo. Maximum UTCI reductions due to changing H/W and orientation approach ∼6°C. Considerable variation is shown in the strength of the correlation between UTCI and the asymmetrical H/W ratio of each flank, with R² = 0.81 for Southeast side compared to R² = 0.4 for Northwest side. Design recommendations are given urban planners based on using the optimised parameters that at least achieve a UTCI reduction benchmark that exceeds those resulting from using the regulations’ thresholds.

Climate change (CC) has an impact on degradation mechanisms in building envelopes. A climate-based analysis (only using climate variables) or a response-based analysis (based on hygrothermal simulation results) can be performed to assess the CC impact over a large region. Only the latter accounts for building parameters (e.g. material properties, wall composition ...), which is more reliable, though at a high computational cost and not state-of-the-art. It remains unclear whether a climate-based analysis is suitable to study the CC impact on building envelopes. Therefore, we compared a climate-based and response-based analysis by means of 34.560 hygrothermal simulations across Europe and the Mediterranean, including a high number of building parameter variations (i.e. 'cases'). In the north of Europe (Bodo), freeze-thaw damage and wood decay are projected to increase (81% and 68% of the cases, respectively). In the mid-latitudes of Europe (Berlin, Brussels, Milan, and Madrid), there is a decrease in freeze-thaw damage in 66%-78% of the cases. Mould growth and wood decay tend to increase in up to 51% of the cases in Brussels, and decrease in halve of the cases in Madrid. In Cairo, Bouarfa, Valencia, and Athens, the degradation risks remain small. Further, there is a weak Spearman rank correlation (maximum 0.46) between the climate-based and response-based CC impact. The error goes up to 100% when using a climate-based analysis. Moreover, the climate-based analysis is unable to represent the spread of the CC impact between different building parameter variations. The climate-based analysis is only suitable as first assessment.

Buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort influences environment quality and human behavior in urban neighborhoods. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) has been broadly applied to the study of buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort in urban areas. However, complex environmental conditions in climate-sensitive urban areas can make UTCI assessment complicated and ineffective. This paper introduces digital techniques into buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort analysis for the improvement of the urban habitant environment. A digital simulation system is generated to facilitate the analysis procedure for buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort assessment in urban neighborhoods. The analysis addresses the research question: “Can digital simulation techniques provide a modeling system to assess buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort continuously and effectively?” Methods include a case study of neighborhoods in Beijing, qualitative and quantitative analysis based on digital processes, and parametric modeling. The results indicate that digital simulation techniques and tools have the capability to support the analysis of buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort by providing three-dimensional models, algorithm-based analysis, and visual simulation. The findings include a critique of digital simulation as applied to architecture study and insights on potentially improving buildings’ outdoor thermal comfort through human–computer interactions.

This study provides a decade-long link between summer heatstroke incidence and certain heat stress indices in 47 prefectures of Japan. The results for each prefecture were determined from the age-adjusted heatstroke incidence rate (TRadj) with heatstroke patients transported by ambulance, as well as from the daily maximum temperature (TEMPmax), maximum wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGTmax), and maximum universal thermal climate index (UTCImax) recorded from July to September of 2010–2019. The UTCImax relatively increased the vulnerability in many prefectures of northern Japan more distinctly than the other indices. In the following analysis, the ratio of the TRadj of the hottest to coolest months using the UTCImax was defined as the heatstroke risk of the hottest to coolest (HRHC). Overall, the HRHC varied approximately from 20 to 40 in many prefectures in the past decade. In contrast, for the same analysis performed in each month, HRHC ratios in July and August fell within 2–4 in many prefectures, whereas in September, the average and maximum HRHC ratios for all prefectures were 7.0 and 32.4, respectively. This difference can be related to the large difference in UTCImax between the maximum and minimum for a decade.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate and seasonally map the tourism climate of northwestern Iran using the Tourism Climate Index (TCI). In this study, climate data from 22 synoptic stations of northwestern Iran during 26 years (1993–2018) were prepared to evaluate climate comfort from a tourism perspective. In this system model, seven parameters were used: mean maximum temperature, mean temperature, mean minimum relative humidity, average relative humidity, monthly precipitation, daily mean sunshine and wind speed. For data processing, the TCI index was used to map the tourism climate map for four seasons using ArcGIS. The TCI index was used to process the data and the tourist climate map was drawn up using GIS for 12 months. The results showed that the TCI of the northwest is varied due to topography contrast throughout the year. The months of April, May, June, July, August, September and October have good to ideal conditions with a rating of 60–99 for climatic comfort. The months of November, December, January, February, and March provide inappropriate conditions with a range of 24–52. The areas (Parsabad Moughan and Jolfa) have a favourable climate in the cold months of the year and there is an inappropriate condition for tourism during the warm months. September is the most favourable month with ratings from 78 to 99 and journey is the most inappropriate month for tourism in the northwest with the rank of 24–52. Northwest of Iran, having plenty of tourist attractions, can be a source of domestic and foreign tourists. In addition to the introduction of this region to attract tourists, employment can also be achieved by the planning and management of tourism.

District heating (DH) has been highlighted as an important part in future carbon neutral energy supply. However, the performance of different DH systems varies a lot and the existing regulations do not always motivate DH companies to move toward more sustainable heat production. Therefore, this article presents novel methodology for Climate index determination which can be further used for the comparison of DH systems. The Climate index includes seven different indicators which show DH system performance according to energy efficiency, sustainability and environmental impact dimensions. The methodology is applied for 20 different DH systems operating in Latvia. The results show that the performance of 5 natural gas-based DH systems is below the determined climate benchmark.

This research reveals visitor perceptions of climate comfort in nature-based tourism areas in Indonesia. We combined a survey and modeling to calculate the comfort score based on Tourism Climate Index (TCI) and Holiday Climate Index (HCI) in three tourism sites of Ecopark Ancol, Bogor Botanical Garden, and Cibodas Botanical Garden. During the survey, we collected data on climate comfort perceptions and the role of the weather on the comfort. Totally, 793 respondents of tourism visitors participated in the study. Our results showed that almost all of visitors (>95%) stated that the weather affected the climate comfort. Interestingly, the weather condition did not influence on the decisions where the tourism site to visit. The level of perceived climate comfort for the sites were neutral (Ecopark, 57.3%), and comfortable (Bogor Botanical Garden, 60%; Cibodas Botanical Garden, 78.4%). Then by modeling we obtained the best method to calculate the comfort based on the following index: (i) TCI with Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) Tianjin for Ecopark (57.2), (ii) HCI for Bogor Botanical Garden (59), and (iii) HCI with PET Tianjin for Cibodas Botanical Garden (77.6). Further, perception on climate comfort was significantly difference among sex, age, and education level of the visitors. In warmer environmental condition, the older people and women feel more comfortable. Our finding revealed that topography was weak correlated with comfort perception. By understanding visitor perceptions, strategies and appropriate actions can be developed to increase comfort in the nature-based tourism industry.

Recent rapid urbanization has rendered outdoor space a key quality-of-life factor, yet walkability studies especially in hot-humid climates have seldom considered human biometeorology. This site-level study investigated microclimatic functions of an overhead structure in improving walkability, and identified biometeorology-related factors influencing pedestrian behaviour. A walkway with overhead tinted glass cover, demarcated into sunny zone and shaded zone, was equipped with hanging aluminium fins. Human thermal sensation was approximated by physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and universal thermal climate index (UTCI), both closely related to global solar radiation and black-globe temperature. Pedestrian flow was tallied by demographic factors to assess the choice between shaded or sunny zones. Compared with sunny zone, shaded zone slashed maximum global solar radiation by 432 W/m2 in full effect to achieve 90% solar radiation reduction. The maximum cooling in air and black-globe temperatures reached 0.8 °C and 6.1 °C respectively. The overhead structure imposed minimal effect on wind field in both zones. Contrast in maximum PET and UTCI between the two zones reached 8.2 °C and 5.3 °C respectively. In shaded zone, the dominant biometeorological condition was moderate heat stress or slightly warm sensation in contrast to strong heat stress or warm sensation in sunny zone. An overall preference for shaded zone was detected. Pedestrian gender and age, namely female and elderly, were significantly associated with shaded zone preference. The findings could inspire a biometeorological perspective in understanding walking behaviour and pedestrian-friendly facilities. Biometeorological-sensitive design of artificial shade could improve walkability in urban environment that increasingly demands climate change proofing.

Tourism Climatic Indices (TCIs) are widely used in the global North to quantify the climatic suitability of a destination for tourism. Only one such study has been conducted in southern Africa to date. It is in a chronic shortage of research on tourism and climate change in the southern hemisphere. This study presents the application of the TCI in Lesotho, calculated for the eastern Lesotho Highlands. The region has an emerging tourism sector, which primarily comprises outdoor activities. These include hiking, horse-riding, music festivals, mountain biking, cultural visits, sightseeing, and at the Afriski lodge, skiing and snowboarding. These activities are reliant on climatic conditions that are conducive to the activity taking place, prolonged periods outdoors, and tourist satisfaction of the activity. Climate is a major determinant of both the length of season for these activities and the timing of peak tourist arrivals. Rising temperatures and changes in relative humidity and precipitation pose real threats to hiking, sightseeing and snow tourism at Afriski. The reliance of tourism in the region on specific climatic conditions for successful tourism prompted the use of the TCI. TCI results classify the eastern Lesotho Highlands as having ‘good’ climatic conditions with an overall TCI score of 64 for the period 2012–2017. Monthly TCI scores for the eastern Lesotho reveal a bimodal-shoulder, meaning the peak climatic conditions are in the regional summer months (December to February). This conflicts with the peak tourist seasons of summer and winter, which align with South African school holidays, and the timing of the most profitable tourism activity (skiing) which occurs during the winter months of June, July and August. Lesotho is landlocked by South Africa. TCI analysis for South Africa reveals more suitable climatic conditions for tourism than Lesotho, with significantly higher scores of 80–89.

Hypertension (HT) affects1/3 of adult populations in developed countries. Several studies reported periodic changes in blood pressure (BP) values depending on atmospheric conditions, and analyzed the impact of outdoor temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity and other meteorological parameters. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) is a bio-meteorological index derived from an analysis of human thermal balance that comprehensively describes the impact of meteorological factors, including both cold stress and heat stress and their physiological consequences.Our aim was to assess the relationship between UTCI values and the number of consultations for HT within the framework of the healthcare system.This work presents a retrospective epidemiological study of data collected in Olsztyn (Poland), characterized by cold climate type. The analytical material comprised 5578 consultations in emergency departments (EDs) due to HT.Seasonal differences in the numbers of HT consultations with a significant increase in winter months were noticed, especially as regards women. Under cold stress conditions, the relative risk (RR) related to consultations for HT was 2-fold higher for women as compared to thermoneutral conditions (p 0.001). For men these differences were also statistically significant, though at a much smaller level (p = 0.03). The increased RR of HT due to cold stress was found among younger and older women contrary to the women at the perimenopausal age.Cold stress should be considered as a significant risk factor among patients, particularly women, diagnosed with cardiovascular diseases. The UTCI is an adequate bio-meteorological tool for the assessment of relationships between atmospheric conditions and occurrence of cardiac symptoms.

This study classifies maximum air temperature patterns over West Africa into sixgroups and evaluates the capability of a global climate model (Community Atmospheric Model version 5.1; CAM) to simulate them. We analyzed 45-year (1961–2005) multi-ensemble (50 members) simulations from CAM and compared the results with those of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) and the twentieth Century Reanalysis data sets.Using Self Organizing Map algorithmto classify the spatial patterns of maximum air temperature during boreal spring, the study revealsthe temperature patterns that CAM can simulate welland those the modelstruggles to reproduce. The results show that the best agreements between the composites of observation and CAM occur in the first temperature patterngroup (which features positivetemperaturesanomalies over theSahel) and Node 2 (which featuresnear-normal temperature) pattern of the third group. CAM succeeded in reproducing some of the associated regional atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamic features in winds(horizontal and vertical), temperature fields, the cloud fractions, and the mean sea-level pressure. Although CAM struggles to capture the relationship between air temperaturepatterns and tele-connection indices during the boreal spring season over West Africa, it agrees with observations that temperature patterns over the sub-region cannot be associated with a single climate index. Anensemble member (SIM48) captures the inter-annual variation of the observed temperaure patterns with high sycronization (ɳ > 44%), much better than that ofensembles mean (ɳ < 30%). SIM48 also captures adequately four of the spatial patterns in comparison to three captured by the ensembles mean. This indicates that, for better seasonal forecasts and more reliable future climate projections, the practice whereby an ensemble mean is based on uniformly averaging the members rather than the performance of individual ensemble members needs to be reviewed. The results of the studymay be used to improve the perfomance of CAM over West Africa, therebystrengthening the on-going efforts to include CAM as part of multi-model forecasting system over West Africa.

Our research goal was to examine a response in mortality among population in Arkhangelsk caused by exposure to high and low temperatures. We determined the best available mortality predictor out of air temperature and Universal Thermal Climate Index that characterizes how people feel temperature and detected threshold temperatures depending on sex, age, and cause of death; under exposure to such temperatures there was a statistically authentic increase in mortality. We analyzed data on daily mortality among population and meteorological data collected in 1999–2016. Relative pre-ciseness in calculating attributive fractions of additional mortality during all hot and cold days was taken as a numeric criterion for selecting the best predictor. All the calculations were accomplished basing on Poisson’s regression model taking into account a non-linear dependence between mortality and weather with a distributed lag up to 21 days long. Although people in Arkhangelsk live in a climate with cold summer and moderately cold winter, we determined attributive fractions of mortality both for cold and heat. In summer high temperatures at night have greater effects on mortality than average daily ones. Differences in temperature-related mortality depend not only on age (people who are older than 65 are more vulnerable in this respect) but also on sex. We detected lower threshold heat temperatures for males as well as greater increase in mortality among them caused by exposure to cold. It is advisable to use different predictors to obtain the maximum precise characteristics for heat and cold stress. We recommend applying UTCI to determine threshold temperatures and additional mortality

This study investigated thermal comfort on two urban pedestrian streets in Harbin, which is an extremely cold region with significant temperature variability, through an on-site survey to determine the thermal comfort range and influence factor. The results show that the ‘acceptable’ votes above 80% in Harbin are in the range of −3.8–23.0 °C universal thermal climate index (UTCI). The neutral temperatures in transition and hot seasons are 21.4 °C and 21.8 °C UTCI, respectively, and participants are more sensitive to the thermal environment during the hot season. The thermal sensation vote values of the preferred temperatures in transition and hot seasons are 0.48 and 0.65, respectively. This indicates that people expect a ‘neutral ∼ slightly warm’ thermal sensation. The modified UTCI range in Harbin is wider compared to those in Tianjin and the Mediterranean, whereas the UTCI for extreme cold stress reaches −30.2 °C. Thermal adaptation and demographic factors also have a significant impact on thermal comfort. Working people always feel colder than walking people, and in the cold season, people who have lived in Harbin longer feel more comfortable. Males feel more comfortable than females, whereas older people are more adaptable to extreme weather conditions.

This investigation is an endeavor to propose an innovative indicator in order to eliminate the restrictions of similar indices. The Outdoor Tourism Climate Index (OTCI) elucidates whether or not the combination of different climatic elements, their compatibility with the climate at the travel origin, and the tourist's purpose of traveling is desirable for outdoor tourists, nature-based tourists, and the other tourists who undertake some activities in the open areas. OTCI was calculated for the outdoor tourists traveling from three different travel origins in Iran, including Tabriz, Shiraz, and Bandar Lengeh, to Bandar Abbas. The findings illuminated further accuracy and closeness to the reality of OTCI rather than Tourism Climate Index (TCI). Furthermore, as far as traveling to Bandar Abbas was concerned, the OTCI score of tourists from Bandar Lengeh (with similar climatic conditions to those at Bandar Abbas) was recognized to be higher than those from Shiraz and Tabriz (with more different climatic conditions).

Tourism is one of the leading sources of income, crucial to Egypt's economy where it contributes more than 7.2% of GDP and 14.4% of foreign currency revenues. The objective of the research is to investigate the impacts of climate change on tourism sector and expecting the future tourism performance of cities. The research has chosen Hurghada, the leading attracting coastal city on the Red Sea for foreign tourist as a case study. The mean monthly data of temperature, rainfall, moisture, wind speed and sun radiation derived by the regional climate model developed by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHIRCA35) for the two climate change scenarios of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 used to achieve this objective. These data used for Hurghada climate zone for the future time period of 2005-2050. The impacts of the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios on Hurghada tourism sector will be estimated based on the application of the Tourism Climatic Index (TCI) that is widely used for the adaptation measure of the climatic suitability for tourism, which examines potential changes in climatic attractiveness of destinations, through the statistical analysis of existing and forecasting meteorological parameters. The research methodology on Hurghada shows a major change expectation in tourism seasons behavior and that climate change will play a major role in changing the climatic seasonal Hurghada tourism performance. The research recommends proactive adaptation strategies rather than reactive policy towards climate change to achieve sustainability and climate change resilience of Hurghada city.

The Grand Shangri-La (GSL) region has strong international tourist appeal. GSL has considerable international eco-tourist potential as well as being attractive for leisure, vacation, health, explorative, and scientific research activities in addition to high-end tourism experiences. These factors could promote the development of its regional tourism. GSL has been identified as a key area for tourism development in China. In this study, we investigated tourism climate conditions in GSL from 1980 to 2016 using a tourism climate index (TCI). We found that through global warming, the number of annual and monthly good-weather days, as assessed with the TCI, showed an increase over most of GSL; that trend was especially true for very good, excellent, and ideal days. The optimal travel period was May–October. We obtained the same result using cluster heat maps, in which we categorized 31 studied meteorological stations into eight types. However, heavy rainfall tended to occur during that optimal period, and it was concentrated at certain times. The annual total number of comfortable days greater than 300 was mainly located in southern GSL. We observed significant correlations between monthly and annual excellent and ideal days with latitude and elevation; in particular, we identified a significant nonlinear correlation between excellent (and ideal) days and elevation.

The paper uses the universal thermal climate index (UTCI) to estimate the bioclimate in Russia, initiated by the Commission of the International society of Biometeorology. The UTCI index can be described as equivalent environment temperature (°C), which provides the same physiological impact on humans as the actual environment. Assessment of bioclimatic conditions is shown for the territory of Russia in the period of modern climate change (2001–2015). Cold stress conditions (from low to extreme) were observed in the almost all territory of Russia for about 8–11 months a year. During the rest of the year, the conditions are neutral or comfortable. The period of extreme and very high cold stress is reduced during the modern climate warming (compared to the period 1961–1990), especially in the Arctic, in the European part of Russia, in Western and Eastern Siberia. At the same time, the period with neutral and comfortable thermal conditions increases.

This study aims to identify outdoor thermal benchmarks of shaded spaces in an urban park in Xi'an (China). Meteorological measurements were conducted during winter and summer accompanied by a subjective thermal sensation questionnaire. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was applied to quantitatively analyze the thermal comfort range in Xi'an, and then variations in outdoor thermal benchmarks between Xi'an and other climatic zones were compared. Results demonstrated that: (1) Air temperature and globe temperature were the dominant physical factors affecting outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) in Xi'an. (2) Pavilion shade effectively lowered thermal stress, decreasing UTCI by 15.5 and 10.1 °C during winter and summer. (3) Deciduous tree shade was the optimal shading design measure and could meet demands for thermally comfortable environments. (4) The neutral UTCI in Xi'an was found to be 23.1 °C, and the acceptable UTCI ranged from 18.0 to 29.1 °C, and (5) a thermal comfort calendar for shaded spaces demonstrated that “strong cold stress” or higher occurred after 16:00h in winter. Pavilion and deciduous tree shades were “neutral thermal stress” for 24h in summer. The results identify thermal benchmarks that could help urban designers create thermally comfortable outdoor spaces in urban parks within the cold region of China.

Thermal indices are applied frequently for the estimation of thermal comfort and thermal stress of a human being exposed to the prevailing meteorological conditions. Among the most common thermal indices, there is the Perceived Temperature (PT), the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), and the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET). They are calculated based on the same meteorological input parameters air temperature, vapour pressure, wind speed, and mean radiant temperature. PT, UTCI, and PET can be easily calculated e.g. using RayMan or the SkyHelios model. The meteorological input data for the calculation of thermal indices is to be selected carefully. Parameters with strong spatial fluctuation need to be representative for the desired location. Differences between the instrument height and the target location need to be considered as well. All indices show individual sensitivity to the individual input parameters. However, their responses do mostly agree in terms of tendency as found in a sensitivity analysis in the course of this study. A second part of this study is targeting the spatial applicability of the three thermal indices. While PT and PET are found to be quite suitable, there have been found limitations concerning the applicability of UTCI in spatially resolved analysis.

This study aims to investigate the effect of wind direction (WD) on thermal and wind sensations, reconsider WS benchmarks, and propose modifications on physiological equivalent temperature (PET) and universal thermal climate index (UTCI) indices to reflect the effects of WD. A total of 1008 interviews were conducted outdoors with concurrent micrometeorological measurements in Tehran, Iran, comparing the preferred, neutral, neutral range, and acceptable ranges of UTCI and PET for subjects exposed to leeward and windward wind directions. The results indicated a deviation of 4.6 °C in neutral PET (nPET) and 4 °C in neutral UTCI (nUTCI) between windward and leeward wind directions. Additionally, the results showed that the subjects undergoing leeward wind direction revealed lower sensitivity to wind speed (WS), PET, and UTCI variations, and showed lower neutral and preferred temperatures/WS, and felt thermally acceptable in a wider gap. The results also disclosed that conducting the surveys neglecting the effects of WD may lead to a complete misunderstanding of the climate. Also, the empirical WS benchmarks were determined using techniques regularly used for thermal analysis. These benchmarks were specified separately for windward and leeward wind directions, knowledge of which may be useful in the planning and design of outdoor environments.

The study objective was to characterise human-biometeorological conditions in the summer season in the period 1966–2019 in Poland, with particular consideration of June 2019. The study was conducted based on data from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management—National Research Institute (IMGW–PIB) for the years 1966–2019. The data provided the basis for the calculation of the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). The study revealed high spatial variability of human-biometeorological conditions in Poland, with strenuous character intensifying from the north to the south of the country. An increase in UTCI in the summer season was recorded in the studied multi-annual period. It was the most intensive in the north-eastern Poland. The consequence of the observed changes was an increase in the frequency of days with heat stress categories (days with UTCI &gt, 26.0 °C), and a decrease in the frequency of days with cold stress categories (days with UTCI &lt, 9.0 °C). Season 2019 stood out at the scale of the entire country in the context of the multi-annual period. This particularly concerns June, when mean monthly UTCI values were the highest in the analysed multi-annual period.

To date, due to climate change, heatwaves are more frequent, with greater intensity and duration resulting in deleterious impacts on human health. To be able to manage heatwaves and quantify the impacts on human health, it is crucial to define them and implement policy preventive measures. However, heatwaves are relative to the climate of a location: The same meteorological conditions can constitute a heatwave in one place but not in another. Due to different climatic conditions, social characteristics, and adaptation, heatwaves should be defined on a local scale, which poses difficulties when it comes to comparison of different definitions. The aim of the present study is to define heatwaves, implementing robust statistical analysis for three different indicators (temperature, physiological equivalent temperature (PET), and universal thermal climate index (UTCI)) for three causes of mortality (i.e., cardiological and respiratory mortality and cardiorespiratory mortality) using Attica (Greece) as a case study. Our results define a heatwave for Attica as a period of at least 3 days when the mean temperature is higher than the 97.5th percentile. Afterwards, we encapsulate the harvesting effect by implementing robust statistical analysis, using the Superposed Epoch analysis. Consequently, quantifying heatwaves is crucial so as to create early warning systems and prevent avoidable mortality.