Research Information System
Journal of Research in Atmospheric Science, vol.1, no.1, pp.18-22, 2019 (Peer-Reviewed Journal)
Majority of people check the weather and climate condition in choice of destination for travelling.
Knowledge of climate information and tourism planning can reduce negative effects of weather and climate
on tourists. Climate of the Istanbul megacity has been shown a rise of 0.94 oC in average annual temperature
during the last century. A notable increase in temperatures has been started after the 1940s which is in
parallel with the beginning of industrialization era. Moreover, rising rate in amount and frequency of heavy
rainfall has more evident during the last 3 decades. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify
favorable weather months in Istanbul based on Mieczkowski's Tourism Climate Index (TCI), for an
analyzed time-period from 1961 to 2016. To calculate the index is used the climatic elements of
temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, sunshine hours and wind speed. The results of tourism
bioclimatic comfort have revealed that Istanbul has a bioclimatic comfort in 7 months. Weather throughout
7 months from April to October is desirable. Thus, the best climate comfort conditions dominated for the
warm seasons of the year. Moreover, daily thermal conditions of Istanbul city have showed a higher
consistency in thermal conditions compared to daytime. Hence, the evaluation of human bioclimatic
comfort conditions can be effective in tourism development planning.