Changes in Climatic Seasons and Climate Comfort in the Tibetan Plateau and Its Eastern Adjacent Regions Under Global Warming

ABSTRACT Three representative tourist cities in the Tibetan Plateau and its eastern adjacent regions were selected to address limitations of previous studies. Using long‐term daily meteorological observations from individual stations during 1961–2020, this study investigated climate change characteristics and associated dividends at different elevations under global warming, as well as their potential impacts on local health and wellness tourism, based on climatic‐season classification and human thermal comfort assessment indicators. The results showed that: (1) Over the 60‐year study period, climate warming was evident in all three regions, primarily characterized by earlier starts and longer warm seasons, later starts and shorter cold seasons, increased perceived temperature and reduced cold deviation. In particular, changes in climatic seasons and climate comfort associated with global warming were more pronounced in the higher‐elevation region. (2) Lhasa, located in the south‐central Tibetan Plateau, belongs to the ‘no‐summer region’ and is characterized by a ‘combined spring–autumn season’. The combined spring–autumn season increased by up to approximately 73 days, the number of comfortable days increased by approximately 58 days, the cold deviation decreased by 4.7°C and the proportion of cold days decreased by 14 percentage points, indicating that the ‘climate change dividend’ associated with global warming was relatively prominent in the plateau region. (3) Panzhihua, located in the northern Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, belongs to the ‘no‐winter region’ and is characterized by a ‘combined autumn–spring season’. Although the combined autumn–spring season shortened slightly, the number of cool days decreased by 26 days and the proportion of slightly cool days increased by 10 percentage points, also reflecting a certain ‘climate change dividend’. (4) Chengdu, located in the western Sichuan Basin, belongs to the ‘region with four distinct seasons’. In late spring and early autumn, the absolute value of climate comfort deviation was close to zero, indicating that the actual perceived temperature was relatively close to the optimal human comfort temperature and that climatic suitability was relatively favourable. However, the magnitude of heat deviation increased during summer, suggesting the coexistence of climate change dividends and potential adverse impacts.