diff -r 6b70f16d585a Doc/library/curses.rst
--- a/Doc/library/curses.rst	Wed Apr 15 10:27:58 2015 -0400
+++ b/Doc/library/curses.rst	Wed Apr 15 12:53:02 2015 -0400
@@ -599,6 +599,13 @@
       Only one *ch* can be pushed before :meth:`getch` is called.
 
 
+.. function:: update_lines_cols()
+
+   Update :envvar:`LINES` and :envvar:`COLS`. Useful for detecting manual screen resize.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.5
+
+
 .. function:: unget_wch(ch)
 
    Push *ch* so the next :meth:`get_wch` will return it.
diff -r 6b70f16d585a Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst	Wed Apr 15 10:27:58 2015 -0400
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst	Wed Apr 15 12:53:02 2015 -0400
@@ -289,6 +289,11 @@
   don't provide any options to redirect it.
   (Contributed by Berker Peksag in :issue:`22389`.)
 
+curses
+------
+* The new :func:`curses.update_lines_cols` function updates the variables
+  :envvar:`curses.LINES` and :envvar:`curses.COLS`.
+
 difflib
 -------
 
diff -r 6b70f16d585a Modules/_cursesmodule.c
--- a/Modules/_cursesmodule.c	Wed Apr 15 10:27:58 2015 -0400
+++ b/Modules/_cursesmodule.c	Wed Apr 15 12:53:02 2015 -0400
@@ -2866,6 +2866,13 @@
     Py_DECREF(m);
     return 1;
 }
+
+static PyObject *
+PyCurses_update_lines_cols(PyObject *self)
+{
+  return PyLong_FromLong((long) update_lines_cols());
+}
+
 #endif
 
 #ifdef HAVE_CURSES_RESIZETERM
@@ -3268,6 +3275,9 @@
     {"typeahead",           (PyCFunction)PyCurses_TypeAhead, METH_VARARGS},
     {"unctrl",              (PyCFunction)PyCurses_UnCtrl, METH_VARARGS},
     {"ungetch",             (PyCFunction)PyCurses_UngetCh, METH_VARARGS},
+#if defined(HAVE_CURSES_RESIZETERM) || defined(HAVE_CURSES_RESIZE_TERM)
+    {"update_lines_cols",   (PyCFunction)PyCurses_update_lines_cols, METH_NOARGS},
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_NCURSESW
     {"unget_wch",           (PyCFunction)PyCurses_Unget_Wch, METH_VARARGS},
 #endif