Can weather cause migraines? Heat, humidity and storms

What research says overall

Many people with migraine think weather changes trigger their attacks, and the American Migraine Foundation says the truth is probably more complicated. Among everyone with migraine, just over one third feel that certain weather patterns trigger at least some of their attacks. In one study of people attending a headache clinic, just over half did, and about 10% felt weather triggered at least two thirds of their attacks.

A 2025 meta-analysis in the Journal of Neurology pooled 31 studies and found a significant association between migraine attacks and weather changes reported as a trigger. It found significant associations with temperature (odds ratio 1.15, 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.29) and ambient pressure (1.07, 1.01 to 1.15). An odds ratio above 1 means higher odds of migraine with that factor, and 1.15 means 15% higher odds. The paper reports the ratios without saying more here, and our reading is that these are small effects, which fits the mixed picture.

Heat and humidity

The AMF notes that an American study found some people with migraine appear sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity, and another found that higher temperatures matched more people with migraine going to the emergency department with headache. The AMF also describes a 2023 study of more than 15,000 people in Japan with physician-diagnosed migraine that found that higher humidity and rainfall, as well as low pressure and pressure changes, were associated with more headache occurrences.

The 2025 meta-analysis did not find a significant association for humidity (1.04, 0.97 to 1.11). The same analysis linked higher levels of air pollutants, such as PM2.5 and ozone, with more migraine clinic visits, so air quality may matter alongside heat.

Storms, lightning and wind

In a 2013 study in Cephalalgia, 90 adults with migraine in Ohio and Missouri kept a daily headache diary for three to six months. The odds ratio for headache on lightning days compared with other days was 1.31 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.66), and 1.18 (1.02 to 1.37) after adjusting for other thunderstorm weather, so the lower end of the range sits close to no effect. The authors say this should be interpreted cautiously until replicated, and that it is unknown how lightning might act.

Wind can matter in a different way. A study of Chinook winds in western Canada, described by the AMF, found some people were more sensitive the day before the wind started, when pressure was falling, and others the next day, when the wind was strong. For a closer look at falling pressure, see our guide to barometric pressure and migraine.

Sunlight

The AMF cites a Norwegian study in which more than three hours of sunlight a day raised the chance of an attack, and another study found attacks more likely during long summer days in the Arctic.

Why the studies disagree

A trigger is any factor that temporarily raises the chance of an attack, and most people have several. The AMF says a single weather change may not be enough alone, and may work only together with fatigue, stress, lack of sleep or a food trigger. The AMF adds that science suggests a trigger may not be the cause of an attack: sensitivity to a weather change might be part of the early phase of the attack itself.

Studies also measure different things: pressure at one station, daily averages, emergency visits or what patients remember. In our view, a personal diary is a fairer test than a feeling, because it records ordinary days too.

How to test your own link

This part is our own advice, not a result from a study. Keep a diary for at least two to three months. Log every attack with start time, intensity and medication, and log a short line on days without an attack too: sleep, meals, water, stress and the weather that day.

At the end, compare attack days with other days for one weather factor at a time. Five attacks after five hot days means little if most days were hot. If a pattern shows up, work on the triggers you control on those days: regular sleep, regular meals and water, as the AMF suggests.

See a doctor if attacks are severe, frequent or getting worse. The NHS says to call emergency services for a sudden, extremely painful headache, trouble speaking, loss of vision, confusion, a seizure, weakness on one side or a headache after a head injury; in the US, call 911. The AMF warns that taking acute medicines too often can cause medication overuse headache, so keep a record and discuss it with your doctor.