SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF HEAT INDEX IN THE OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT IN UYO, AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

The study analysed spatio-temporal analysis of heat index in the outdoor environment in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The study made use of meteorological data including minimum and maximum temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and solar radiation from 1985 to 2021 obtained from NiMet. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the data analysis. Results showed that both minimum and maximum temperatures in Uyo increased with increasing time while the monthly mean minimum and maximum temperature decreased from January to December. The mean total heat index continued to rise at the rate of 0.13381 in Uyo. The mean total heat index increased at the rate of 0.1998 in the dry season and 0.0968 in the rainy season in Uyo. The study concluded that the air temperature and relative humidity in Uyo are increasing from 1985 to 2021 while solar radiation and wind speed are slightly decreasing. However, the heat index in Uyo was increasing from 1985 to 2021 and as a result the human comfort in the outdoor environment becomes a challenge. The study thus recommended that the menace of increasing heat index in Uyo should be critically looked at so that the human comfort can be improved. Also, afforestation programme should be encouraged to decrease the heat in the outdoor environment