Assessment of Climate Comfort in Belgorod District

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess the level of climatic comfort in Belgorod region and its dynamics in the changing climate at the beginning of the 21st century. Materials and methods. For a detailed study of temporal patterns of climate comfort parameters distribution in the considered territory the data of daily dimension of Belgorod weather station for the period 2000 - 2018 on air temperature and relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed, and partial pressure of water vapor were used. The last decade has been characterised by an increase in extreme summer temperatures, which has led to the need to assess the risk of thermal hazards using the AT parameter proposed by Stedman. The impact of a set of meteorological parameters on human well-being was assessed using the Weather Pathogenicity Index. Results and discussion. This article presents the results of calculations of the total pathogenicity index and the Stedman's effective temperature. In the cold semester, an increase in the pathogenicity index is determined by a low temperature background and an increase in relative humidity. During the warm period, indices related to wind speed, interdaily variations in air temperature and humidity play a decisive role. Conclusions. Over the past two decades, there has been a decrease in the pathogenicity of weather conditions in February, May, June and September. A positive statistically significant trend has been identified in the change in the cumulative duration of periods of high and extremely high thermal hazards.