After a busy week of inspiring science and socialising in nipaluna/Hobart, it's nice to finally rest on the couch with the cats. #AMOS2026 was fantastic as always, one of my favourite weeks of the year! @amosupdates.bsky.social
It took a loooooong time but it's finally out!
We argue that the winter storm track isn't actually "shifting south". Rather, the cool season drying in southeast Australia is linked to a weakening of the northern edge (while the core stays put & intensifies).
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
When I review papers it's always something I bring up because rainbow palettes are still suuuuper common but shouldn't be!
Great to be in sunny Hobart in lutruwita/Tasmania for the @amosupdates.bsky.social 2026 meeting. Here’s the gorgeous view from kunanyi/Mt Wellington yesterday. The very apt #AMOS2026 conference theme is “southern skies, southern oceans: science on the edge”.
I know it’s intentional but we should stop calling everything AI, lumping useful machine learning techniques for science with large language models that tech companies are trying to cram into everything.
If you're interested in how extratropical lows are changing in Australia as the world warms, there's a short summary of some recent research on the BoM website: www.bom.gov.au/news-and-med...
And I made a little web app where you can go and download monthly precipitation time series data from your location of choice (as long as it's in Australia) wateriso-aus.shinyapps.io/apic/
"Observations show that across the globe, the heaviest daily rainfall events are averaging about 8 or 9 per cent more rain today than before the pre-industrial era"
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
I read LotR for the first time when I was 11 and it was lifechanging, I hope it is for him too! Can't wait until my 7yo is ready for it (and all my other childhood favourites).
One small highlight of 2025: I managed to read 133 books, my highest total since 2016 (not counting all the books read to children). Mostly SFF of course!
I suspect I'll read fewer next year, as it feels like time to reread LotR.
Given how much money we have to pay journals to publish papers, you would think they could at least manage to hire support staff with reading comprehension or customer support who actually answer emails *grumble mutter whinge*
Looking for postdoc positions in the UK studying weather extremes?
Two jobs with deadline 4th Jan:
Historical windstorms, working with two insurance companies: jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Storylines of extreme events, as part of a European collaboration: jobs.reading.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Wrote this ages ago, still relevant
www.scientificamerican.com/blog/hot-pla...
Exciting news 🎉 Our CCRC scientist Andréa Taschetto and team have just released “Meteorology and Climate of the Southern Hemisphere” book, an updated edition of David Karoly’s 1998 monograph, published by Cambridge University Press. +
Available at lnkd.in/g4SFsM9k
www.cambridge.org/au/universit...
What's NCAR? and 8 ways it has helped you
www.forbes.com/sites/marsha...
🚨New paper
CCRC scientist Andrea Taschetto and team have published a comprehensive review of ENSO impacts in Australia in @natrevearthenviron.nature.com. This is an important and long-overdue synthesis, building on foundational studies such as McBride & Nicholls (1983). ++
Not every day we get 35 x 10⁶ AUD for ocean research.
rms.arc.gov.au/RMS/Report/D...
Excellent job from Our Future Oceans team! 🌊
Congrats @profmattengland.bsky.social, @adele-morrison.bsky.social, @andyhogg.bsky.social, @janzika.bsky.social, @nicolamaher.bsky.social and many more!!!
Watch to the end. Mother Nature is not messing around
🌊 Storms in the Southern Ocean are producing more rain
👉 28% rainfall increase (vs ERA5’s 8%)
👉 Storm rain intensity up
👉 ~2,300 Gt/yr extra freshwater in 2023
👉 Ocean “cooling by evaporation” up 10–15%
One of Earth’s key climate buffers is shifting.
theconversation.com/storms-in-th...
New review led by @ariaan.bsky.social on climate effects of the Southern Annular Mode, the most important mode of climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere. Read it in @natrevearthenviron.nature.com at doi.org/10.1038/s430... 🧪 #academicsky #climate #climatechange
It's always nice as a scientist to see datasets you developed years ago are still being used to do useful things. But when planning future research it's hard to decide when it's valuable to update old datasets/analyses using new models etc, vs moving on and doing something new (thus higher impact).
In the latest edition of the Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, I am taking another look at this year's Sudden Stratospheric Warming. I think it had more of an impact than I thought it would back in September. viewer.joomag.com/bamos-vol-38...
New research from our team! We identify places where the hottest temperature on record is not particularly severe compared to what is possible (a.k.a "soft records"). rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Ahhhh, the relief when you've been anxiously waiting the reviews of a paper for 6 months and they finally come back as minor revisions. Having this paper completely finished with by the end of the year will be an excellent Christmas present!
Every year around Thanksgiving, I see tons of grad students post heartbreaking messages on social media about how their loved ones don’t understand or support their decision to study what seems like something pointless or silly.
Perhaps my American Scientist essay can help!
🧪🌎🦑 #SciComm
Or directly at the journal via the correct link doi.org/10.1175/JCLI... 😆
If you're interested in all the details, the paper is open access at nesp2climate.com.au/resource/com.... The next stage is working with people in the emergency services and energy sectors to improve our methods, I'll be talking on this at #MODSIM2025 nesp2climate.com.au/research/ext...
One thing I've been working on for the last year or so is trying to better understand how strong winds and heavy rainfall interact to cause enhanced impacts on Australians, and which datasets we need to use to identify them properly.
Read about my new paper here: nesp2climate.com.au/gone-with-th...
Note from an irritated editor: AI is starting to infiltrate peer review, or at least it looks a lot like it. If you’re planning to use an LLM to review someone else’s work for a journal, rather just don’t accept the review invitation. It’s easy.
Insurance Australia Group (IAG) Severe Weather in a Changing Climate report
www.iag.com.au/severe-weath...
“The report complements Australia’s National Climate Risk Assessment (2025) … together with anticipated impacts for the finance & insurance industry.”
Key Planning Recommendations are given
