Beating the heat: study explores the search for cool during heatwaves

Smartphone data shows how we seek refuge in extreme heat, and why social inequalities leave some vulnerable Heatwaves are now an increasingly expected part of summer for many. But how people stay cool varies from place to place. A new study uses mobile phone location data to track where people go when the mercury climbs, and assesses how we need to adapt to live better with the inevitable heatwaves to come. During the summer of 2025, a 10-day extreme period of heat across Europe led to 2,300 deaths. Globally, governments are implementing heat action plans, but social inequalities mean some people are more vulnerable to heat than others. Researchers used mobile phone location data across seven countries – Brazil, China, France, India, Nigeria, Turkey and the US – to assess how people stayed cool during heatwaves in 2022 and 2023. Not surprisingly, the results, published in Environmental Research Climate, show people tend to withdraw into their homes during heatwaves. However, places such as shopping malls and parks also became important refuges, particularly for people without air conditioning at home. In Mexico, people aged between 18 and 35 were disproportionately likely to die fr