Weather and migraine: heat, humidity and storms

Can heat or humidity explain a headache?

A hot afternoon can include bright light, altered sleep, exercise and changes in drinking or meal times. Recording ‘weather’ as one trigger loses those distinctions. The Migraine Trust discusses summer conditions and practical management, including the uncertainty around some proposed products.

Start with a question you can describe: ‘Do my recorded headache days differ from other days in temperature and humidity?’ That is more useful than deciding in advance that humid air must be the cause.

Use separate fields for separate questions

• Weather: source, time, approximate place, temperature, humidity and pressure if available.
• Symptoms: start/end times, impact on activity and any other symptoms.
• Context: sleep, time outdoors, meals and unusual changes in routine.
• Completeness: no headache recorded, headache recorded, or information missing.

You do not need to collect every possible variable. Choose a manageable set and keep its meaning consistent.

Worked example: two humid afternoons

This is an illustrative record, not evidence that sleep or humidity caused anything. A diary is an observation tool; it cannot isolate every competing explanation or tell you what would have happened under different conditions.

Make the next entry easy

Use the weather diary template and, if useful, a separate sleep diary. Both work in the browser without an app account. Save or print your work before closing the page; entries are not automatically retained.

For pressure units and a comparison-day example, read barometric pressure and migraine. For treatment questions, discuss the record with your clinician rather than treating a forecast as a care plan.