The Pan and Parapan American Games (PA15) are the third largest sporting event in the world and were held in Toronto in the summer of 2015 (10–26 July and 7–15 August). This was used as an opportunity to coordinate and showcase existing innovative research and development activities related to weather, air quality (AQ), and health at Environment and Climate Change Canada. New observational technologies included weather stations based on compact sensors that were augmented with black globe thermometers, two Doppler lidars, two wave buoys, a 3D lightning mapping array, two new AQ stations, and low-cost AQ and ultraviolet sensors. These were supplemented by observations from other agencies, four mobile vehicles, two mobile AQ laboratories, and two supersites with enhanced vertical profiling. High-resolution modeling for weather (250 m and 1 km), AQ (2.5 km), lake circulation (2 km), and wave models (250-m, 1-km, and 2.5-km ensembles) were run. The focus of the science, which guided the design of the observation network, was to characterize and investigate the lake breeze, which affects thunderstorm initiation, air pollutant transport, and heat stress. Experimental forecasts and nowcasts were provided by research support desks. Web portals provided access to the experimental products for other government departments, public health authorities, and PA15 decision-makers. The data have been released through the government of Canada’s Open Data Portal and as a World Meteorological Organization’s Global Atmospheric Watch Urban Research Meteorology and Environment dataset.

Outdoor thermal comfort (TC) is an important parameter in assessing the value and health utility of a recreational space. Given the public health significance of child heat illness, the ability to model children's heat balance and TC during activity has received little attention. The current pilot study tests the performance of an outdoor human heat balance model on children playing in warm/hot outdoor environments in sun and shade. Fourteen children aged 9e13 participated in the 8-day study in Texas in spring 2016, performing physical activity while wearing heartrate monitors and completing thermal perception surveys (e.g., actual thermal sensation (ATS)). Surveys were compared to predicted thermal sensation (PTS) based on principles of human-environment heat exchange using personal data and a suite of on-site microclimate information. Results demonstrate the model to significantly predict ATS votes (Spearman's rho ¼ 0.504). Subjective preferred change was also significantly correlated to modeled PTS (rho ¼ À0.607). Radiation, air temperature, windspeed, and level of tiredness were significant predictors of ATS. Finally, the mean human energy balance was significantly lower in the shade (À168 W m-2), thus lowering heat stress potential, with the model predicting ATS with little-to-no error (0.2 and 0.0 scale error units in sun and shade, respectively). This study demonstrates an ability to estimate a child's heat balance while accounting for changes in major heat contributors (e.g., radiation, metabolism), and is the first study to evaluate TC of children during activity in outdoor built environments. New insights of heat perception may aid in recognition of often under-recognized heat stress.

Mass sporting events in the summertime are influenced by underlying weather patterns, with high temperatures posing a risk for spectators and athletes alike. To better understand weather variations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) during the Pan American Games in 2015 (PA15 Games), Environment and Climate Change Canada deployed a mesoscale monitoring network system of 53 weather stations. Spatial maps across the GTA demonstrate large variations by heat metric (e.g., maximum temperature, humidex, and wet bulb globe temperature), identifying Hamilton, Ontario as an area of elevated heat and humidity, and hence risk for heat-related illness. A case study of the Hamilton Soccer Center examined on-site thermal comfort during a heat event and PA15 Soccer Games, demonstrating that athletes and spectators were faced with thermal discomfort and a heightened risk of heat-related illness. Results are corroborated by First Aid and emergency response data during the events, as well as insight from personal experiences and Twitter feed. Integrating these results provides new information on potential benefits to society from utilizing mesonet systems during large-scale sporting events. Results further improve our understanding of intra-urban heat variability and heat-health burden. The benefits of utilizing more comprehensive modeling approaches for human heat stress that coincide with fine-scale weather information are discussed.