Humid heat exceeds human tolerance limits and causes mass mortality (original) (raw)

The hottest boreal summer on record has driven widespread humid heat mortality across every continent of the Northern Hemisphere. With critical physiological limits to human heat tolerance drawing ever closer, this Comment highlights the urgent need to limit further climate warming and emphasizes the adaptation challenge ahead.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are members of the Lethal Humidity Global Council. While the views stated here are the authors’ own, our initiative is additionally supported by the following members of the Council: S. Dey, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India; E. Shuckburgh, Cambridge Zero, Cambridge University, UK; V. Venugopal, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, India; T. Lenton, Exeter University; L. Slater, Oxford University; B. Hare, Murdoch University and Climate Analytics; R. Glasser, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI); D. McCauley, University of California Santa Barbara; A. Dutta, Professor of Epidemiology at Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI); K. Mohaddes, Cambridge Judge Business School.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Centre for Integrated Research in Risk and Resilience, King’s College London, London, UK
    Tom Matthews
  2. Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
    Emma E. Ramsay
  3. Climate Analytics, Berlin, Germany
    Fahad Saeed
  4. Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
    Steven Sherwood & Katrin J. Meissner
  5. Heat and Health Research Centre and Thermal Ergonomics Laboratory, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
    Ollie Jay
  6. Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    Colin Raymond
  7. ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century and Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
    Nerilie Abram & Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick
  8. Heat Resilience and Performance Centre, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
    Jason Kai Wei Lee
  9. University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
    Shanta Barley & Andrew Forrest
  10. Fortescue, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
    Shanta Barley & Andrew Forrest
  11. Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
    Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick
  12. Weather and Climate Services, Islamabad, Pakistan
    Mariam Saleh Khan, Atta Ullah & Anwar Sadad
  13. Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Exeter University, Exeter, UK
    Callum Roberts
  14. Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, India
    Dileep Mavalankar
  15. Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), Parkville, Victoria, Australia
    Kenneth G. C. Smith
  16. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
    Kenneth G. C. Smith
  17. Luskin Center for Innovation, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    Victoria Turner
  18. Minderoo Foundation, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
    Andrew Forrest

Authors

  1. Tom Matthews
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  2. Emma E. Ramsay
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  3. Fahad Saeed
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  4. Steven Sherwood
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  5. Ollie Jay
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  6. Colin Raymond
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  7. Nerilie Abram
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  8. Jason Kai Wei Lee
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  9. Shanta Barley
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  10. Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick
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  11. Mariam Saleh Khan
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  12. Katrin J. Meissner
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  13. Callum Roberts
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  14. Dileep Mavalankar
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  15. Kenneth G. C. Smith
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  16. Atta Ullah
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  17. Anwar Sadad
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  18. Victoria Turner
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  19. Andrew Forrest
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Contributions

T.M., E.E.R., F.S., S.B., S.S., A.F. and O.J. conceptualized the Comment. E.E.R. processed observed data and made the figure. T.M., E.E.R., S.S., O.J. and S.B. drafted the paper. All authors contributed ideas and edits to the Comment.

Corresponding author

Correspondence toTom Matthews.

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Competing interests

All authors are members of the Lethal Humidity Global Council, an assembly of dedicated leaders and global experts to protect humanity against lethal temperature and humidity combinations, and the risks posed by climate change more generally.

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Matthews, T., Ramsay, E.E., Saeed, F. et al. Humid heat exceeds human tolerance limits and causes mass mortality.Nat. Clim. Chang. 15, 4–6 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02215-8

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