Extreme Cold - Human Risk, Forecast, Max 4-14 Day, Global (v1.0)

Technical Description

The Extreme Cold Risk Forecast product captures the forecasted risk of extreme cold across the globe using well-established thermal stress metrics. These products seek to identify areas across the region where forecasted extreme cold conditions may cause physiological stress to humans. The focus of these products is on biological cold stress, but they can also be used to identify areas where cold stress may impact infrastructure or agricultural processes.

This Forecast Risk layer looks at the maximum of the daily extreme cold conditions across the globe for the next 4-14 days.

The following Extreme Cold Risk classes are used to classify the risk of cold stress:

• No Risk (0) : No risk from cold stress.
• Low (1) : Low risk from cold stress, resulting in discomfort from exposure
• Moderate (2) : Risk of hypothermia and frostbite if outside for long periods without adequate protection.
• High (3) : High risk of frostnip or frostbite: face and extremities may experience numbness or whiteness. High risk of hypothermia if outside for long periods without adequate clothing or shelter from wind and cold.
• Extreme (4) : Very high to severe risk of frostbite and hypothermia. Outdoor conditions are hazardous, and exposed skin can freeze in less than 5 minutes.

This dataset contains the following fields:

• extreme_cold_risk_class: The extreme cold risk classification for each pixel location. The values are integers from 0-4 representing the extreme cold classes of No Risk (0), Low (1), Moderate (2), High (3), and Extreme (4).