A Preliminary Study on the Effect of Rainfall Events on Human Thermal Comfort Under Hot Weather Conditions

Abstract

Rainfall is very in fl uential on the alteration of atmospheric conditions. The existence of precipitated water in the atmosphere leads to a reduction of both air and surface temperature values and also to a simultaneous increase of relative humidity. The feeling of increased human discomfort conditions is, however, very common after a storm during the warm period. The present study deals with a preliminary assessment on the effect of rainfall events on human thermal comfort under hot weather conditions. For the purpose of this study, meteorological data along with the thermal comfort indices THI and PET were used. More than 6 meteorological parameters were analyzed before and after a number of selected rainfall events. Results revealed that a rapid alteration of the PET index values after rainfall events is occurred as a consequence of global radiation, air temperature and relative humidity variations.