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August 31, 2026 4:36 am
Published by Iain Strachan
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools are fundamentally reshaping climate science. They have changed the way we code, simulate future climate, and gather and interpret climate observations. Used without sufficient scrutiny, these tools can inject errors into climate information and the decisions built on it. The solution, though, is not to resist AI, but to retain and upskill climate scientists so they can better integrate and interpret these tools. By Taimoor Sohail (University of Melbourne) and Sanaa Hobeichi... Read More
July 27, 2026 3:29 am
Published by Iain Strachan
Sydney has experienced more than its fair share of flash flooding and heavy downpours in recent years, prompting an obvious question: does the city itself influence the rain that falls on it? Can concrete, roads and high-rise buildings actually change local rainfall? For anyone impacted by extreme precipitation in urban areas, it is more than an academic question. More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, so even small changes in rainfall can have important consequences for... Read More
July 27, 2026 2:57 am
Published by Iain Strachan
When it comes to rainfall impacts on Australia, not all El Niño events affect us in the same way. Some leave large parts of eastern Australia dry, while others have a stronger influence on the Northern Territory. Scientists have recognised these different types of El Niño for years, but understanding exactly why they produce distinctly different rainfall patterns has remained a challenge. Researchers from 21st Century Weather, based at UNSW and Monash University, have now traced those differences to changes... Read More
July 23, 2026 1:56 am
Published by Iain Strachan
On hot summer afternoons or still winter mornings, Australia’s electricity grid increasingly depends on the weather. As more wind turbines and solar farms replace fossil fuels, understanding how climate variability affects electricity supply has become an important question. And with Australia building an electricity system powered increasingly by wind and solar, one question has become more important – will the major modes of climate variability such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) make it harder to keep the lights on?... Read More
July 16, 2026 11:34 pm
Published by Iain Strachan
When it comes to making the most of his involvement with 21st Century Weather, self-confessed thunderstorm nerd Dr Tim Raupach is a strict adherent to the three Cs – collaboration, community and Cumulus. An Industry Scientia Senior Lecturer with the Institute for Climate Risk and Response at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Tim is an expert in hailstorms, convective processes, and precipitation microstructure. He studies how climate change affects severe convective storms and the dangerous hazards of... Read More
July 13, 2026 12:09 am
Published by Iain Strachan
When the temperature climbs into the high thirties, millions of Australians reach for the same switch. Air conditioners hum into life, homes cool down, and electricity demand begins its steady climb towards the evening peak. Keeping enough power flowing on those hot summer afternoons is already one of the biggest challenges facing the electricity grid, and it’s only set to increase as global average temperatures continue to climb. New research from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of... Read More
June 5, 2026 3:45 am
Published by Iain Strachan
In Greek mythology, Theseus unspooled a ball of string behind himself as he ventured deeper into the dreaded labyrinth of King Minos. After defeating the Minotaur – a terrifying beast that lived within the maze on the island of Crete – the Athenian hero used the string to retrace his steps and escape the labyrinth. At 21st Century Weather, our scientists are only able to successfully defeat the wicked problems and computational demons of complex climate modelling thanks to modern-day... Read More
June 3, 2026 10:24 pm
Published by Iain Strachan
New research led by UNSW suggests that as the climate warms, the conditions that produce hailstorms are drifting towards the poles, leaving winter crops increasingly exposed. A hailstorm can undo a season’s work in minutes. It can strike quickly and unevenly, shredding wheat, bruising fruit and flattening crops, while leaving neighbouring paddocks untouched. In a new Nature Climate Change study, scientists from UNSW Sydney say the geography and seasonality of that risk is changing. As the planet warms, the atmospheric conditions that... Read More
April 20, 2026 12:49 am
Published by Iain Strachan
Deadly heatwave events are occurring at temperatures and humidity levels previously thought to be survivable, according to a new paper led by 21st Century Weather and featuring a team of international researchers. A study by Professor Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick and her collaborators looked at heatwaves that occurred in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) during 2024, Bangkok (Thailand) during 2024, Phoenix (United States) during 2023, Mount Isa (Australia) during 2019, Larkana (Pakistan) during 2015, and Seville (Spain) in 2003. The events featured climatologically extreme... Read More
April 19, 2026 11:49 pm
Published by Iain Strachan
A giant rotating tank of water in a laboratory in Canberra is an alternative to supercomputers for the scientists trying to predict the impacts of climate change – and the results are a mix of good and bad news for Australia. A key challenge facing the world’s researchers is understanding the role of polar amplification on the Earth. Polar amplification refers to the phenomenon in which human-driven weather and climate change happens faster and with more strength in the Arctic... Read More
