Mike Byrne
@drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social
climate scientist | extreme temperatures, atmospheric dynamics, water cycle | Reader @ U. St Andrews, PhD from MIT | he/him | 🇮🇪 in 🏴 https://sites.google.com/view/climate-dynamics-lab
Human-induced climate change made the extreme fire weather that fuelled the recent destructive wildfires at least twice as likely in France and at least 20 times more likely in Spain, according to our new study.
Wildfires: why media coverage doesn’t always make the climate connection A fire is an event. Climate change is the story behind the event. Journalism has to tell both. theconversation.com/wildfires-wh...
Wildfires: why media coverage doesn’t always make the climate connection
A wildfire can be explained by today’s barbecue, yesterday’s wind direction, a dry spring, four decades of land use change, or a century of emissions.
theconversation.com
www.nbcnews.com/science/clim...
Why Europe, the world’s fastest-warming continent, was primed to burn this summer
The continent has warmed twice as fast as the rest of the globe over the last 30 years. The fires in France and Spain are a consequence of the extreme heat, which dried out vegetation.
nbcnews.com
Scientists warned you about: ♨️ more/longer/hotter heatwaves (hot planet=hot weather) 🌀 stronger storms (warm water=hurricane food) 🌧️ downpours (warm air holds more water vapor) 🌵 droughts (warm air is thirstier) 🔥 fire weather (hotter, drier) 🌊 sea level rise (land ice melts, warm water expands)
New preprint on the physics of land humidity using 'water tagging' simulations. Key pt: land specific humidity changes primarily controlled by water advected from ocean regions, but relative humidity changes closely tied to local processes (e.g., soil moisture) essopenarchive.org/doi/abs/10.2...
essopenarchive.org
Cloudiness has been declining globally for the last two decades. Why is this and how does it matter for global warming? Read our new article to find out! 👇 doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4153-2026 And see the @carbonbrief.org post summarising the key findings buff.ly/oLxKacO
Emerging low-cloud feedback and adjustment in global satellite observations
Abstract. From mid-2003 to mid-2024, a global decrease in low-cloud amount enhanced the absorption of solar radiation by 0.22±0.07 W m−2 per decade (±1σ range), accelerating the energy imbalance trend...
doi.org
Carbon Brief@carbonbrief.org · 4mo agoGuest post: How declining cloudiness is accelerating global warming ✍️ By @pauloceppi.bsky.social Read this new article here ➡️ buff.ly/oLxKacO
Wildfires are an increasing threat to the Scottish Highlands www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Wildfire still burning as helicopter waterbombs Cairngorms
More than 50 firefighters are spending a third day tackling the blaze which started in heathland near Nethy Bridge.
bbc.co.uk
AI in scientific publishing: Slower, worse, and more expensive | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
AI in scientific publishing: Slower, worse, and more expensive
There’s a saying in the management world, popularized by NASA administrator Daniel Goldin in the 1990s, that the goal of technological improvements is to make products faster, better, and cheaper. Alt...
science.org
"The average hottest day of the year has warmed by over 4.5°C in a swathe from Kent to Lincolnshire for the most recent decade, 2016-2025, compared to 1961-1990" From the State of the UK Climate in 2025, first published yesterday.
#NERC is seeking views on the capabilities, infrastructure, technologies and skills required to sustain and grow UK atmospheric science. We’re asking NCAS colleagues and collaborators to contribute to the review: ncas.ac.uk/help-shape-t...
The inaugural EUCLIDYAN workshop was hosted by the Max Planck Institute in March. It was a fantastic event, establishing new collaborations and a new community of European climate dynamics researchers. We will host EUCLIDYAN #2 @earthscista.bsky.social in 2027 🌍 mpimet.mpg.de/en/communica...
Connected Across Europe: The EUCLIDYAN Initiative on Climate Dynamics
EUCLIDYAN connects European research groups studying climate dynamics in a unique way: The initiative focuses on young researchers—and on personal connections that encourage scientific collaboration.
mpimet.mpg.de
++BREAKING++ Leading climate scientists in the UK have written to senior editors in broadcast media - and OFCOM and IPSO: "To express our concern about recent media coverage of extreme weather, climate change and net-zero and to urge you…to inform public audiences of the scientific links"
Temperatures have continued to climb this afternoon, and we now have a new provisional June record of 36.0 °C, recorded at both Wisley, Surrey and Gosport in Hampshire
How average and extreme summer temperatures are changing in Western Europe. Graph: Robert Rohde. This will continue until we reach net zero emissions, whether you like it or not: it’s physics. @rarohde.bsky.social
An ECMWF study on heat stress has been published in @nature.com Climate Change today: Heat stress seasons are lengthening, with more frequent and severe compound events. This poses an escalating threat to health, livelihoods and economic productivity globally. ➡️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...
People will die this week. The next few days will bring record-breaking heat to France, a country ill-prepared for widespread temperatures over 40 °C (104 °F). For the French: stay hydrated, stay in the shade, exercise due caution, and seek help if you need it.
An amazing workshop with plenty of novel and exciting new research. Very timely research, given the ongoing heatwave. Thank you very much @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social, @gabihegerl.bsky.social and Jack Scheff for organizing it.
Mike Byrne@drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social · 2mo agoExcited to host the Land-Climate Workshop @uniofstandrews.bsky.social this week! Looking forward to ~40 talks + posters on cutting-edge research questions spanning wildfires, drought, freshwater availability, monsoons, extreme weather and much more! @earthscista.bsky.social @gabihegerl.bsky.social
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT “NORMAL SUMMER WEATHER” FOR THE UK — ESPECIALLY IN JUNE! (Record is 35.6°C) We are seeing the effects of climate change due to human activity playing out. Image is the latest Met Office forecast for London
Excited to host the Land-Climate Workshop @uniofstandrews.bsky.social this week! Looking forward to ~40 talks + posters on cutting-edge research questions spanning wildfires, drought, freshwater availability, monsoons, extreme weather and much more! @earthscista.bsky.social @gabihegerl.bsky.social
Finally! An article about the AMOC circulation that isn’t just clickbait / hype, and provides some real physical insights about how the ocean works. It turns out the ocean may be far more resilient than clikbait stories suggest. A very worthwhile read! www.science.org/content/arti...
The ocean current that warms Europe may be more resilient than feared
Studies of the Atlantic's circulation find signs of both weakening and unexpected stability in the face of global warming
science.org
🌞👨🔬 “It’s not what we’re meant to have in terms of our climate. It’s not what we’re built for...we need to be careful of those kinds of things. These are serious events, and having more of these is not good for us." - UCD Professor Andrew Parnell, UCD School of Mathematics and Statistics
Heat alert issued for eight counties as forecasters predict another record-breaking 31C today
Boy fights for life after Monaghan lake incident amid renewed water‑safety alerts
independent.ie
Kew Gardens recording 35.1ºC today breaks its previous May record in 1922 before this spell by NEARLY 5ºC and breaks its June maximum temperature record set in 1976 by 0.5ºC - this also beats the previous May UK maximum record by OVER 2ºC (32.8ºC, 1922/44). An incredible anomaly
To underscore this even even further, the June record – set during the 1976 heatwave – is only 0.5°C higher but was set over a month later (28 June). It is staggering to think what is now possible in June, in the current climate (let alone the future), following this record-shattering May heatwave
Met Office - weather and climate@metoffice.gov.uk · 2mo agoToday is now the hottest day in May on record for both England and Wales with Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 35.1°C and Cardiff Bute Park reaching 32.9°C 🌡️
Looks like the UK heatwave will be killed by thunderstorms. Emerging research, from our group and others, suggests the threshold for triggering convection (i.e., thunderstorms) may increase in a warming climate, potentially enabling very hot days to warm more rapidly.
Today has been the hottest day in May on record with Kew Gardens provisionally reaching 34.8°C - exceeding the previous highest May temperature in the UK by a full 2 degrees Celsius🌡️ This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid summer, let alone in May📈
The world has warmed 1.4 degrees since pre-industrial times. Warming has been faster over land, and particularly fast over Europe. All of which are fuelling UK temperatures in May of 34+ degrees, numbers that were unthinkable when I was born www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1...
Bank Holiday Monday: Hottest May day on record expected in UK, with 34C forecast
The prospect of comfortably beating the current record (32.8C) is "bonkers", according to BBC Weather's Simon King.
bbc.co.uk
A pleasure to host @timwoollings.bsky.social, Ken Mylne, @hcbloomfield19.bsky.social & @drchriswhite.bsky.social yesterday for the annual @earthscista.bsky.social symposium, this year on "From dynamics to impacts: Weather in a warming world". Thank you all for visiting and giving such great talks!
The forecast for Sunday in London is 32°C. There is a chance of breaking the UK record temperature for May of 32.8°C, which occurred back in 1944, just before D-Day. Recent paper from Met Office discussing the 1944 heatwave with modern context: rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
A big congrats to Josh Duffield, supervised by @drmichaelbyrne.bsky.social, for passing his PhD viva today with @ruthgeen.bsky.social and me as examiners. Some fascinating work on extreme temperatures that was a pleasure to read and discuss! 🥳 @earthscista.bsky.social
