Humid heat in a changing climate: What it means for our health

Why is it harder to stay cool on a 35-degree day when it is humid compared to when it's dry? As climate change accelerates, extreme humid heat events are becoming more frequent, posing a growing threat to human health and well-being. While dry heat extremes are expected to increase in frequency and intensity across Australia, the expected changes to humid heat events – often more harmful to human health – are less understood.

Join Professor Ollie Jay and Dr Cass Rogers as they unpack the science behind humid heat stress, explain its physiological effects on the body, and explore how research is improving our ability to understand and prepare for extreme heat events.

This webinar is hosted by the National Environmental Science Program Climate Systems Hub.

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• Free

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Eliza Keck

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Ollie Jay is Professor of Heat and Health and Director of the Heat and Health Research Centre at the University of Sydney. Ollie is a NHMRC Leadership Fellow and has led several large-scale projects that have directly influenced international public health heatwave policies internationally. In 2021, he co-led the first-ever Series on Heat and Health in The Lancet, and his work has recently been profiled in both Science and Nature.



 

Dr Cassandra Rogers is a climate scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology. She studies heat extremes and compound events, including heatwaves and humid-heat, with the aim of better understanding how these events have changed over the recent past and how they will change in the future – particularly in Australia. Her research is supported by the NESP Climate Systems Hub and the Australian Climate Service.