Weather and climate conditions can be decisive regarding travel plans or outdoor events, especially for sport events. The Olympic Games 2020, postponed to 2021, will take place in Tokyo at a time which is considered to be the hottest and most humid time of the year. However, a part of the athletic competitions is relocated to the northern city Sapporo. Therefore, it is important to quantify thermal comfort for different occasions and destinations and make the results accessible to visitors and sport attendees. The following analysis will quantify and compare thermal comfort and heat stress between Sapporo and Tokyo using thermal indices like the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature and the modified Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET and mPET). The results reveal different precipitation patterns for the cities. While a higher precipitation rate appears in Sapporo during winter, the precipitation rate is higher in Tokyo during summer. PET and mPET exhibit a greater probability of heat stress conditions in Tokyo during the Olympic Games, whereas Sapporo has more moderate values for the same period. The Climate-Tourism/Transfer-Information-Scheme (CTIS) integrates and simplifies climate information and makes them comprehensible for non-specialists. The CTIS of Tokyo illustrates lower suitable conditions for “Heat stress”, “Sunny days” and “Sultriness”. Transferring parts of the athletics competition to a northern city is thus more convenient for athletes, staff members and spectators. Hence, heat stress can be avoided and an acceptable outdoor stay is ensured. Overall, this quantification and comparison of the thermal conditions in Sapporo and Tokyo reveal limitations but also possibilities for the organizers of the Olympic Games. Furthermore it can be used to raise awareness for promoting or arranging countermeasures and heat mitigation at specific events and destinations, if necessary.

In a recent study, melanoma incidence rates for Austrian inhabitants living at higher altitudes were found to increase by as much as 30% per 100 m altitude. This strong increase cannot simply be explained by the known increase of erythemally-weighted irradiance with altitude, which ranges between 0.5% and 4% per 100 m. We assume that the discrepancy is partially explainable by upwelling UV radiation; e.g., reflected by snow-covered surfaces. Therefore, we present an approach where the human UV exposure is derived by integrating incident radiation over the 3D geometry of a human body, which enables us to take upwelling radiation into account. Calculating upwelling and downwelling radiance with a radiative transfer model for a snow-free valley and for snow-covered mountain terrain (with albedo of 0.6) yields an increase in UV exposure by 10% per 100 m altitude. The results imply that upwelling radiation plays a significant role in the increase of melanoma incidence with altitude.

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Menschen sind im Zuge des Klimawandels immer stärker von Hitze und deren negativen gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen betroffen. Oftmals wird die Lufttemperatur als Maßzahl verwendet. Um jedoch Auswirkungen von Hitze auf den Menschen zu charakterisieren, müssen neben der Lufttemperatur weitere Faktoren berücksichtigt werden.Ziel der Arbeit: Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, den Hitzestress von Bewohnern in Städten mithilfe der Gefühlten Temperatur während Hitzewellen zu charakterisieren und mit derjenigen von Bewohnern auf dem Land zu vergleichen sowie Unterschiede zur Lufttemperatur hervorzuheben.Material und Methoden: Daten der Stadtstation Freiburg und der Station Freiburg-Flugplatz für 2019 des Deutschen Wetterdienstes (DWD) wurden für die Analyse der Lufttemperatur sowie für die Berechnung der Gefühlten Temperatur mithilfe des Klima-Michel-Modells für Freiburg verwendet. Zusätzlich werden die Hitzewarntage für Freiburg dargestellt und die nächtlichen Bedingungen der Innenraumtemperaturen des Hitzewarnsystems analysiert.Ergebnisse und Diskussion: Die Gefühlte Temperatur übersteigt die Lufttemperatur während Hitzewellen um bis zu 10 °C. Während der klassische Wärmeinseleffekt anhand der Differenz der nächtlichen Lufttemperatur hoch und tagsüber gering ist, ist bei der Gefühlten Temperatur die Differenz nicht nur nachts, sondern auch tagsüber deutlich höher.Fazit: Um negative Auswirkungen zu quantifizieren, wird nicht nur die Lufttemperatur benötigt, sondern auch die Kenntnis über weitere Faktoren, die den Hitzestress beschreiben und steuern. Stadt-Land-Unterschiede bei Lufttemperatur und Gefühlter Temperatur bilden eine gute Möglichkeit der Quantifizierung von Hitze. Anpassungsmaßnahmen in Städten unter Berücksichtigung des Hitzestresses für Menschen sind notwendig.

Scientifically based data on the prevalence of weather-associated complaints and symptoms as well as impairment of well-being have been obtained from population surveys on weather sensitivity in Germany since the 1950s. This analysis focuses on the findings from the representative population survey of 2021 and relates the results to the surveys of 2013 and 2001. The “Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach”, on behalf of the German Meteorological Service, interviewed a representative sample of 1080 German citizens. Based on respondents’ self-assessment, the proportion of individuals who said the weather had an impact on their health was 46% in 2021, compared to 50% in 2013 and 54% in 2001. Elderly and chronically ill individuals are more likely to suffer from weather sensitivity than the average population. Women are more affected than men. The most common complaints of weather sensitivity are headaches/migraines, exhaustion/general fatigue, limited activities, and abnormal fatigue. The decrease in the proportion of weather-sensitive humans may be related to greater health awareness and improved health care. Preventive measures, such as going outdoors and dosed exposure of the body to different weather, as well as avoiding other stresses, can train the body’s ability to regulate itself and help to make it less susceptible to weather sensitivity.

Weather and climate conditions can be important and a decision factor for travel plans or outdoor and sport events. It is important to quantify thermal comfort and other related climate factors for different applications and destinations and make the results easily accessible to visitors and sport attendees. This analysis has provided and quantified thermal comfort, heat stress and other climate-related factors. A relevant approach is the visualization of climate thresholds in a Climate-Tourism/Transfer-Information Scheme (CTIS) for the prevailing local climate conditions. The methodology provided here is a possible gold standard of good human biometeorological practices for tourism, recreation and sports, and can be applied for all major events. The information provided on the local climate can be extracted by non-experts such as tourists intending to attend sports events.

Climate and weather conditions at a destination influence the decision regarding what season and which location tourists might travel to. Assuming that the holiday experiences and satisfaction during their stay are influenced by weather and climate as well, this study investigates the question: does bad weather lead to a higher complaint rate among guests who booked vacation rentals? To answer this question, the complaint behavior and the weather parameters temperature, precipitation, wind speed and humidity are examined. The correlations between weather and complaining behavior are proven using the four-field coefficient. The chi-square four-field test is used to subsequently test independence. As a result, a correlation between the weather parameters and complaints cannot be proven based on the applied methods and used data. The four-field coefficient cannot confirm a correlation, as it is close to zero for all four weather parameters. For further investigations, more complaint data are required to obtain more significant results.