1. SV & GV People skating on outdoor ice rink. (2 SHOTS) 0.08
2. GV People walking along street in hot weather. 0.11
3. GV Storm clouds. 0.22
4. SV Men dig and drill on street during heat and wiping away perspiration. (2 SHOTS) 0.26
5. SV INTERIOR Operating table at Washington Hospital. 0.35
6. SCU Dr. Howard Champion speaking. (SOT) 0.39
7. SV Police chase scene with voice. 0.43
8. CU PULL BACK TO SV & SVs Dr. Helmut Lansburgh at University of Maryland, at his deck. (3 SHOTS) 0.54
9. SCUs Dr. Lansburgh speaking over people in winter clothes reacting to cold. (SOT) (3 SHOTS) 1.24)
10. GV & SV EXTERIOR People in park, couple walk with pram. (2 SHOTS) 1.40
11. GVs Men slipping on ice. (3 SHOTS) 1.49
12. CU Book called "Weathering" by Dr. Stephen Rosen." 1.52
13. SCU Dr. Rosen speaking. (SOT) 2.00
14. SV INTERIOR Television meteorologist Gordon Barnes giving weather report. 2.13
15. SVs Gordon Barnes speaking over weather index and bar graph on monitor (SOT) (3 SHOTS) 2.55
TRANSCRIPT: DR. CHAMPION: (SEQ 6) "Certainly one's tolerance for ... our fellow man seems to decrease with the humidity, the heat, and the short tempers are also a factor."
DR. LANSBURGH: (SEQ 9) "Suddenly the temperature changed by anywhere from twenty to thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind starts blowing and we get exposed, if we are outdoors, to considerable wind chill, and we have to try to physiologically adapt to that very radical change. That requires a change in our metabolic rate; it requires all kinds of adjustments in your circulatory system in particular."
DR. ROSEN: (SEQ 13) "The weather can intensify or make worse virtually any health problem or ailment that we have."
BARNES: (SEQ 15) "Not everyone is weather-sensitive. Some people are affected by humidity, some by rapid changes in barometric pressure, or by the wind -- or even by temperature.....Now we've taken all of this information, put it into a computer, and related it to past weather conditions in the Washington area. And we now have what we call our Weather Health Trend Index. By taking the current weather conditions into account, and the forecast of tomorrow, we have developed the following: It will tell us basically, whether or not our reflexes are going to be normal, above normal or below normal. The same for resistance to aches and pains. And how your thinking proficiency is going to be, as well as whether or not you are going to be in a good mood."
InitialsCC/JRS


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Background: VARIOUS, USA

Scientists in the United states say they have established how the weather affects people's moods. With the help of a computer they have developed what they call a Weather Health Trend Index. This, it is claimed, will enable people to tell how well they are going to perform the following day by studying the weather forecast. The basic effect of weather on physiology is illustrated by, say, shivering brought on by excessive cold, or bad temper caused by tough manual work in high temperatures. Our bodies, the scientists explain, are trying to maintain a uniform temperature, and rapid changes in the weather subject them to stresses. At the Washington Hospital Center Shock-Trauma Unit, Dr. Howard Champion has noticed that every summer both tolerance for our fellow man and temper grow shorter as temperatures and humidity climb. At the University of Maryland, Dr. Helmut Lansburgh specialises in the complex relationship between our bodies and the weather. It is called the science of Bio-Meteorology. Dr. Lansburgh explains that any sudden change in such weather factors as temperature and wind chill require an equivalent change in our metabolic rate, as well as all kinds of adjustments in our circulatory system. In the spring, a young man's fancy can be enhanced by mild temperatures and sunshine -- possibly stirring some ancient animal instincts. In the cold of winter, reflexes as well as fingers may be numbed. One expert, Dr. Stephen Rosen believes that even our moods can be affected by the weather. Washington TV meteorologist Gordon Barnes thought people wanted to know more from the weather forecast than weather to carry an umbrella the next day. So, by placing past information into a computer, he developed the Weather Health Trend Index. He claims that by taking current weather conditions and the forecast into account, this will produce indications about such things as how sharp our reflexes will be, how well we will be able o think, or even whether or not we are going to be in a good mood.

Source: USIA