摘要：The objective of this paper is to assess the bioclimaticconditions in Serbia during summer in order to identify biothermal heathazard. Special emphasis is placed on the bioclimatic index UTCI (UniversalThermal Climate Index), whose purpose is to evaluate the degree of thermalstress that the human body is exposed to. For this research, mean daily andhourly (07:00 and 14:00 CET) meteorological data from three weather stations (Zlatibor, Novi Sad and Niš) have been collected for the period from 1998 to2017. In order to identify patterns of biothermal heat stress conditions,the thresholds of the daily UTCI (UTCI ≥38 ∘C, referred toas very strong heat stress, VSHS) at 14:00 CET are compared with the thresholdsof daily maximum air temperature (tmax≥35 ∘C,referred to as hot days, HDs), which are further termed as heat wave events(HWEs). The findings show that the UTCI heat stress category “verystrong heat stress“ at 14:00 CET indicates heat waves. The most extreme heatwave events occurred in 2007, 2012, 2015 and 2017. Moreover, three HWEs at Niš that occurred in July 2007 lasted 3, 10 and 4 d.HWEs and very strong heat stress events (VSHSEs) recordedin July 2007 (lasted 10 d each), 2012 (lasted 9 and 12 d) and 2015 (lasted7 and 10 d) were of the longest duration and are considered to be theindicators of biothermal heat hazard. The daily UTCI14 h heat stressbecomes more extreme in terms of severity and heat wave duration up to verystrong heat stress.
