Richard Allan
rpallanuk.bsky.social
Richard Allan
@rpallanuk.bsky.social

Professor of climate science at the University of Reading: http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/

Environmental science 55%
Geography 19%

Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 5 Feb 2026:
🌀 storms hit Portugal/Spain, Brazil, Madagascar
🌧️ floods & landslides across Colombia, Morocco, DR Congo
🏔️ avalanche in Italy
🥀 drought grips Kenya
❄️ coldwave affects Lithuania, USA
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...

Reposted by Anders Levermann

2 new papers by Cooper, Armour & co use past climates, from the Last Glacial Maximum 21,000 yrs ago & the Pliocene 2.6-5.3 million yrs ago, to infer that the planet will warm about 3 degrees C for a doubling of CO2 as a best estimate for present day.

doi.org/10.1126/scia...

doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Last Glacial Maximum pattern effects reduce climate sensitivity estimates
Ice sheet–driven temperature patterns amplified glacial cooling, implying less future warming than previously estimated.
doi.org

Great news, the price of liquid death is dead low at the moment!

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/m...
Petrol prices drop to lowest level in almost five years
A litre of petrol at UK forecourts costs an average of 131.91p, the RAC said
www.independent.co.uk

Very impressive. To answer the question, pretty well by the time you've finished your paper! 😇

Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 29 Jan 2026:
🌀 storms hit Portugal, Spain & UK
💦 #floods & landslides Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Greece, Afghanistan, Indonesia
🌡️ #heatwave Australia
🥀 #drought Somalia
❄️ #snow Japan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria & USA
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...
Artificially offsetting greenhouse gas warming using solar geoengineering to reflect away sunlight may be more costly than without if cut off suddenly, leading to “termination shock” of rapid warming: @iopp-environment.bsky.social study via @newscientist.com

iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
Economic assessment of SRM under socio-political and geophysical tipping dynamics
Economic assessment of SRM under socio-political and geophysical tipping dynamics, Estrada, Francisco, Bastien-Olvera, Bernardo A, Calderon-Bustamante, Oscar, Altamirano, Miguel A, Muñoz-Sánchez, Rodrigo, Moreno-Cruz, Juan, Botzen, Wouter
iopscience.iop.org

Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 23 Jan 2026:
🌧️ #floods + landslides Mozambique/Malawi/SAfrica/Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Syria, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Peru
❄️ #avalanche & severe snow Switzerland/Austria, Russia
🔥 #wildfire Chile
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...

A warm & wet December 2025 in the UK but some longer term rainfall deficits in the north east & south east though the @ukceh.bsky.social hydrological outlook is normal following dry to wet transition: nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul...

Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social:
⛈️Storms UK/France/Germany, Argentina/Brazil
🌧️Floods/Landslides Albania, Australia, Malaysia, DRCongo/Mozambique/SAfrica/Tanzania/Zambia
🔥Wildfire Argentina/Chile, SAfrica
🏔️Avalanche Austria, France, USA
🥀Drought Kenya
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

This time, at the 2026 University of Reading Department of #Meteorology's Research Away-Day, we had a larger auditorium in the #PalmerBuilding (and hence more space) than during the same event in 2024. (click on thumbnail to see the composite photo). #ResearchAwayDay @uniofreading.bsky.social

Emerging #drought hotspots across Europe, southern Africa, northern South America + western North America based on new approach considering growing season soil moisture available to plants - @natureportfolio.nature.com study by Emily Black @unirdg-met.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

I’d wondered about burying trees to lock away carbon and assumed it’d be too slow but here’s a proposal to sink them in the Arctic Ocean (via @newscientist.com):
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social:
❄️ #snow & storms affect Europe, Iran/Syria & USA
🌧️ #floods across France, Spain, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Palestine & USA
🔥 #wildfires in Australia, Chile
🥀 #drought over Somalia
🌩️ #lightning strikes S Africa
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

The @uniofreading.bsky.social has been a leading advocate for #climate education to better prepare young people for changing careers & society, as explained by our head of school Andrew Charlton-Perez OBE in this @uk.theconversation.com article:
theconversation.com/climate-educ...
Climate education proposals will prepare young people in England for changing careers and society
Ensuring that all young people develop strong climate and nature literacy will be essential for both personal resilience and national prosperity.
theconversation.com

The #uksnow has even reached RG1 (5/10)!

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

Our 1st pick of 2026 began at -2C & ended with 19 small/7 large bags of litter including bonus help from the @henleystandard.bsky.social!

Join us this year for a new outdoors, sociable & free activity: www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/KCT

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

NEW – Analysis: UK renewables enjoy record year in 2025 – but gas power still rises

✍️ by @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org and Ho Woo Nam

Read here ➡️ buff.ly/YTa31NF

Jump in SSTs 2023-24 from dual tropical Pacific warming centres & eastward-extended North Atlantic jet stream, boosted by a large global energy imbalance driven by rising grenhouse gases & falling aerosol that was exacerbated by preceding extended La Niña heat sequestration: doi.org/10.1038/s432...

Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 18th Dec 2025:
🌧️ #floods & landslides in Bolivia, Morocco, Palestine, Malaysia & Vietnam
⛈️ storms hit Brazil & USA
🔥 #wildfire affects Chile
🏭 #smog over Bosnia & Herzegovina, N India
❄️ heavy #snow covers W Canada
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

Fascinating to see the stark contrasts in space and time over our small but diverse country! Climate whiplash literature will certainly be assessed in the current @ipcc.bsky.social cycle

Latest @ukceh.bsky.social UK hydrological summary for November 2025 - very wet with shift from #drought to #flood concerns and consistent with an expected more variable and extreme water cycle in a warming #climate:
nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul...

Emerging cold-fresh/warm-salty dipoles in the N Atlantic during 2014 with implications for ocean circulation - more analysis with my Dad in @tandfresearch.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1080/0705...

Animation of OSCAR estimated ocean currents just for fun ⬇️

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

We gathered for a festive feed to celebrate our 39 picks by 75 volunteers working a gruelling 942 volunteer-hours to collect 563 small bags + 375 big bags of litter from across Caversham in 2025. As usual Ken wins🥇for the most picks (35)! Thanks to @dofe.org volunteers for their help #litterpickers

Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 12th December 2025:
🌧️ #flooding & landslides across Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Iraq, DR Congo, USA & Brazil
🔥 #wildfire in Australia
⛈️ winter storm hits Palestine
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...

Reposted by Richard P. Allan

Festive tunes have arrived @unirdg-met.bsky.social following our last weather & climate discussion!

The @uniofreading.bsky.social authors of @ipcc.bsky.social 7th assessment met in Paris with 2 @unirdg-met.bsky.social covering physical processes & climate stabilisation pathways + 1 @unirdg-law.bsky.social on #climate law aspects of mitigation:
www.ipcc.ch/assessment-r...