Poet Laureate checks out the Met observations site
Poet Laureate discusses weather
The Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, achieved a longstanding ambition by becoming the latest @uniofreading.bsky.social weather observer after admitting he didn’t get on our @unirdg-met.bsky.social degree course while on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme!
www.reading.ac.uk/news/2026/Un...
Residents carry away their belongings at the site where homes collapsed due to heavy rains and flooding in the Parque Burnier neighborhood of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) via AP News.
Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 6th March 2026:
🌧️💦 #floods & landslides across Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, DR Congo & Indonesia
🏔️❄️ avalanches in Canada
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...
Keep Caversham Tidy stand salubriously by litter collected from Amersham Rd
A salubrious 16 including @dofe.org support swarmed Amersham Road north side, cleansing the streets, bushes, nooks & crannies of litter, aggregating around 15 large/18 small bags of discarded detritus including a TV, birthing ball and pink Barbie van. For info: www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/KCT
![The Parque Burnier neighbourhood of Juiz de Fora faces the aftermath of a landslide in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state on February 24 [Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo via Al Jazeera]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:u6g7lrvd3rqarb36jqeekqb3/bafkreiaxoaxgrxb74rvppy32x7us5ilkb4rn6m6kz5q3klnoxteagnfr3e)
The Parque Burnier neighbourhood of Juiz de Fora faces the aftermath of a landslide in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state on February 24 [Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo via Al Jazeera]
Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 27 Feb 2026:
💦 #flooding & landslides affect Peru, Brazil, DR Congo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines
🏔️ avalanche hits Austria, Italy
❄️ snow & storms hit Mongolia & USA
🍞 food insecurity in Pakistan, Somalia
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...
Flooding in Perigord, France due to Storm Nils on February 12, 2026. Credit: Florence Joubert via watchers.news
Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 19 Feb 2026:
🌀 cyclone #Gezani hits Madagascar/Mozambique
🏔️ avalanches in Switzerland, Italy & USA
⛈️ storms, floods + landslides affect France, Morocco, Central African Republic, S Africa & Afghanistan
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...
Fig. 5 of Calvo-Sancho et al. (2026) Nature Comm: Schematic showing how extreme heavy rainfall events intensify with human-induced climate change in the Valencia case study. Heavy rainfall events intensify due to enhanced moisture content, which increases the latent heat release, and causes stronger positive vertical motions. These changes promote more intense microphysics processes, stronger heavy rainfall (6 h) and increases the total rainfall area.
Catastrophic Valencia #floods in 2024 made more intense by human caused warming of #climage that increased moisture supply, invigorated the storm through latent heat release & altered cloud microphsyical processes based on high resolution physical-based attribution modelling: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Yes some unusually persistent southeasterly flow in northern parts dumped loads of wet in Aberdeenshire and N Ireland but rain shadow effects protected the western side of northern Britain for example!
Map showing above average groundwater over much of the UK in January 2026
Map showing above average precipitation over much of UK in January 2026 apart from western Scotland and northwest England and Wales
Map showing some exceptionally high river flows in eastern Scotland, Northern Ireland & southern England during January 2026
Map showing variable soil moisture over UK in January 2026
Very wet January 2026 over many UK regions with flooding & some exceptionally high river flows in eastern Scotland, Northern Ireland & southern England plus rising groundwater & reservoir stocks so elevated flood risk in @ukceh.bsky.social hydrological outlook 🌧️💦 nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/sites/defaul...
![People work on a damaged building in the Mananjary district, Madagascar, on February 22, 2023, after Cyclone Freddy hit Madagascar [File: Solofo Rasolofomanana/AP Photo]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:u6g7lrvd3rqarb36jqeekqb3/bafkreiepjkbuwsw5ee4pc4vz4qtnnfn4zcomzo6w4zbk5pwhsrrszdpnve)
People work on a damaged building in the Mananjary district, Madagascar, on February 22, 2023, after Cyclone Freddy hit Madagascar [File: Solofo Rasolofomanana/AP Photo]
Global #climate hazards @ukhsa.bsky.social 12th Feb 2026:
🌀 Cyclones hit Madagascar
🌧️ #flooding & landslides over southern Africa, Morocco, Brazil/Colombia/Peru, Indonesia, Syria, France, Greece,
🏔️ avalanches in France/Italy
🔥 #wildfire affects Cameroon
www.met.reading.ac.uk/~sgs02rpa/ex...
Different ways of framing the substantial evidence supporting climate action actually produce similar responses based on a new study - unfortunately all have quite a small effect due to confirmation bias making it difficult but not impossible to change minds:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
![Firefighters pull an inflatable boat as floodwaters from the Sado River cover the streets in Alcacer do Sal in southern Portugal during Storm Leonardo on February 4, 2026 [File: AFP]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:u6g7lrvd3rqarb36jqeekqb3/bafkreihib2j4nhjrpvjnflv3qbtqetfhmeo7xvofclcwjm3z4jjdjgon4i)
Firefighters pull an inflatable boat as floodwaters from the Sado River cover the streets in Alcacer do Sal in southern Portugal during Storm Leonardo on February 4, 2026 [File: AFP]
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...
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...
Great news, the price of liquid death is dead low at the moment!
www.independent.co.uk/life-style/m...
Very impressive. To answer the question, pretty well by the time you've finished your paper! 😇
Indonesian military personel and a rescue member carry water pump machine from the site of a landslide following heavy rains in Pasir Langu village, West Bandung regency, West Java province, Indonesia, January 27, 2026. REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana
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...
Figure 5. Impact of climate change on terrestrial water fluxes (A). Climate change directly and indirectly impacts groundwater resources:
Figure 2. The impacts of the exceptional marine heatwaves in 2023–2024 and the period of occurrence of the warmest sea surface temperature
Figure 1. Estimates of contributing factors to the anomalous global mean temperatures in 2023 and 2024
10 key #climate science insights from 2025:
doi.org/10.1017/sus....
Guest post by @carbonbrief.org:
www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-1...
![Onlookers inspect damage to the bridge crossing the Ga-Selati River, just outside Phalaborwa, on January 16, 2026, following heavy rains over much of the Limpopo Province, South Africa [Paul Botes/AFP]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:u6g7lrvd3rqarb36jqeekqb3/bafkreibk2qaunyokaq4n5n34t2wgmiuyuxsijjbozsewuyj2wi7eynjg3y)
Onlookers inspect damage to the bridge crossing the Ga-Selati River, just outside Phalaborwa, on January 16, 2026, following heavy rains over much of the Limpopo Province, South Africa [Paul Botes/AFP]
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...
Map of UK rainfall anomalies Dec 2025
Map of UK river flow anomalies Dec 2025
Map of UK groundwater anomalies Dec 2025
Map of UK soil moisture anomalies Dec 2025
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...
Aeroplane being used for fire suppression in Chubut Province, Argentina, on January 8, 2026. Credit: Governor Ignacio Torres.
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...
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
Figure 6 of Black et al. showing emerging drought hotspots in historical simulations and observations estimates and future projections
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...
As we head back out into the ice today, here’s a write up of last week’s litter pick by @henleystandard.bsky.social!
www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/home/70...
Bamburgh Castle surrounded by snow in Bamburgh, England, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
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...
Ten New Insights in #Climate Science 2025 published @universitypress.cambridge.org Global Sustainability: doi.org/10.1017/sus....
Report @futureearth.bsky.social 10insightsclimate.science
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...
Looking out from University of Reading London Road campus
The #uksnow has even reached RG1 (5/10)!
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
Keep Caversham Tidy volunteers stand gormlessly by their collected haul of litter
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
