European countries that could lose more than 30 days of comfortable weather per year by 2100 / The North is warming, the South is getting hot / How many comfortable days Romania is losing (MIT study)

MIT researchers have developed an innovative new way to measure the real impact of global warming, reports Euronews.

For most people, it is not easy to decipher the impact of rising temperatures on their daily lives. Global warming of 1.5C or 2C on average is hard to imagine.

To try to solve this problem, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found an innovative new way to measure this change in real life and predict its long-term effects.

Using data from 50 different climate models, they plotted how the number of “outdoor days” will increase or decrease in various destinations around the world by 2100.

These “outdoor days” refer to 24-hour periods when temperatures are pleasant enough for most people to engage in outdoor activities, whether for work or leisure. These are days when it is neither too hot nor too cold, which scientists consider to be roughly between 10C and 25C, and when no extreme weather events occur.

An online tool developed by MIT researchers also allows people to set their own temperature range when checking their country’s data, based on what they think is comfortable weather.

The MIT study found that tropical destinations will see the biggest changes in days spent outdoors. The Dominican Republic will be the hardest hit, losing 124 days of comfortable weather per year by the end of the century. Mexico, India, Thailand and Egypt will lose half of their free air days.

The researchers also highlighted a gap between the global North, which will gain more days of comfortable weather, and the global South, which will lose more days despite emitting fewer greenhouse gases. The differences in places like Bangladesh or Sudan are striking, they say.

There is also a north-south divide in Europe in terms of days spent outdoors. In the north, there will be more days of comfortable weather as the winters warm up, while in the south, the extreme heat during the summer months will mean fewer days outdoors.

According to MIT data, the Balkans will likely be one of the most affected regions in Europe. Albania will lose 30 days, Serbia 26 days, Croatia 22 days, North Macedonia 21 days, Bulgaria 17 days, Kosovo 19 days, and Romania 12 days.

Further south, Greece could lose 37 outdoor days per year by 2100 due to extreme heat from May to September, the MIT study found.

The Iberian Peninsula will also see changes, with Portugal recording 33 fewer outdoor days and Spain 13.