Esse estudo tem por objetivo realizar um zoneamento das ocorrências de granizo e vendaval no estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS), entre os anos 1989 e 2009. Foram utilizados os registros de ocorrências dos eventos (com e sem decretação de situação de emergência), obtidos junto à Coordenadoria Estadual de Defesa Civil do RS (CEDEC), a fim de analisar o período de maior freqüência de ocorrências e as regiões mais atingidas por esses eventos. Os resultados mostraram que, em relação aos eventos de granizo a estação mais favorável para sua ocorrência é a primavera (290 eventos), seguida do inverno (132 eventos). As áreas que apresentaram as maiores ocorrências localizaram-se na metade norte do Estado, dentre as quais se destacaram como mais atingidas o Alto Uruguai (217 eventos) e Planalto Médio (90 eventos). As regiões da Depressão Central e das Missões também foram bastante atingidas por tais tempestades, porém com uma freqüência ligeiramente menor (83 e 70 eventos). Com relação aos vendavais, as regiões mais afetadas foram as do Alto Uruguai (271 eventos), Planalto Médio (120), Depressão Central (116) e Missões (96 eventos), e o período de maior ocorrência foi a primavera (novembro e outubro). Regiões como o Litoral (24), Encosta do Sudeste (13) e Serra do Sudeste (11) registraram poucos episódios durante os vinte anos estudados, o que caracteriza a porção Sul do estado como a menos preferencial a esses extremos de tempo. Foi mostrado também, que esses eventos adversos não acontecem somente em anos com a presença dos fenômenos climáticos El Niño e La Niña. Houve ocorrências de intensos episódios em anos classificados como neutros (ausência dos fenômenos).

A thermal comfort index for the Northeast of Brazil was analyzed for two scenarios of climatic changes, A1B and A2, for 2021-2080, and compared with the reference period 1961-1990. A technique of regionalization was applied to rainfall, maximum and minimum temperature data from meteorological stations, obtained by statistical downscaling of projections from four global climate models. The results pointed to a significant reduction of rainfall and an increase of temperature for three different climatically homogeneous subregions. Regarding the thermal comfort index, the results point to an increase in days with heat discomfort between 2021 and 2080. In the northern portion, the higher percentage of days with heat discomfort will be significant since the first half of the period under appreciation, i.e., from 2021 to 2050. Conversely, in the eastern of northeastern Brazil, the increase of days with heat discomfort should happen in the period from 2051 to 2080, whereas the central-western part of the region, which, in the reference period, had recorded less than 1% of days with heat discomfort, might see an elevation of that percentage to 7% between 2021 and 2050, potentially reaching 48% of its days made uncomfortable by heat between 2051 and 2080.

This work is taken up to evaluate the relationship between the thermal comfort of spectators and athletes and the prevailing meteorological conditions during Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Empirical and physiological thermal comfort indices are calculated from data collected from an automatic weather station installed near the Olympic Stadium and interviews with the spectators. The study period was marked by a gradual rise in air temperature and by the occurrence of two significant weather events associated with wind gusts, which caused disturbances in some areas of the competitions. ET and NET were below the air temperature, indicating that both humidity and wind contributed to the reduction of the human-biometeorological indices. Majority of the interviewed persons reported comfortable sensation and weather conditions. These perceptions corroborate results of the thermal comfort indices calculated for these resting spectators. The comfort indices calculated for the athletes with high level of physical activity showed that PET estimated hotter thermal sensation those for the individuals at rest, indicating that the physical type of a person may strongly influence the thermal sensation and comfort during intense physical activity. Increasing trend observed in all the indices of human thermal comfort during the period of study shows consistency among them.