Ailie Gallant

All hopes for some rain after a VERY dry start to the year in southern Vic dashed for most areas. A grand total of 0.4 mm in our local gauge. A reminder that one month (November 2025) doth not a drought, break.

For those in Melbourne today, don't be fooled by the mild morning. The super-hot air is sitting like a giant bubble right above us, waiting for the sun to come up and start mixing all that cooler air at the surface with the air above. When it does, it's going to get hot, fast. Stay cool, stay safe.

Pyrocumulus happen when the immense heat from a fire causes near-surface air rise and break through to unstable layers in the atmos, leading to intense convection. I took this time lapse of the Walwa fire in NE Victoria on Friday afternoon as PyroCu bubbled away over the range from our location.

Yeah I was shocked to hear on the radio yesterday that the announcer said "Black Saturday was unusual because the worst effects of the fires came with the cool change". But that's when it's ALWAYS the worst! I was screaming at the radio.

Stay safe, Sarah. Was awful in Vic yesterday.

Had the opportunity to speak at the Senate Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy yesterday. We had many questions, including from Malcolm Roberts (ironically). You can see how that turned out, below. Huge props to Alex Dunne, a PhD student in our team who also spoke.

It was an interesting conversation... But great to be able to present to the Committee.

Totally Cooked: The Weather & Climate Podcast The climate is changing. So is the conversation. Totally Cooked is a podcast about weather, climate change, and what it all means for life on Earth.

It's out! Check out the new podcast "Totally Cooked" from @21stcenturyweather.bsky.social where @sarahinscience.bsky.social and @instrachan.bsky.social, plus a few amazingly awesome guests, take you through the latest science about climate change. Subscribe via your fave podcast app!

Today's rain in western VIC from a typical "autumn break" system (decently strong mid-lat cyclone). But instead of dropping 20-40 mm (typical in a 'normal' year) most areas got 5-15 mm. This is very typical for dry periods - see our work on this from last year. journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...

What is this strange liquid falling from the sky????

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your trip Downunder!

Officially my favourite headline of this Federal election, as seen on the ABC News website this morning 🤣 Australian politics at its finest.

Last Call! The Research Fellow position closes TODAY and the tenured position closes next Friday!! We'd love to see your application if you work in meteorology/weather science and Australia is a great place to live and work.

FINAL OPPORTUNITY: Two jobs available in meteorology/weather sci at Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia. International applicants welcome.
1. Research Fellow in Weather Resources (3-year contract) *Closes 24 April AEST*
2. Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Meteorology (permanent) *Closes 2 May AEST*
Apply:

FINAL OPPORTUNITY: Two jobs available in meteorology/weather sci at Monash Uni in Melbourne, Australia. International applicants welcome.
1. Research Fellow in Weather Resources (3-year contract) *Closes 24 April AEST*
2. Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Meteorology (permanent) *Closes 2 May AEST*
Apply:

Day 1 of the International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology & Oceanography in Cape Town, South Africa. Always a luxury not having to flip your circulations and seasons! Lots of talks on drought already, so I'm a happy camper!

New nomenclature alert! High-impact/extreme weather should henceforth be called "battle weather" according to my 5 year old. I will officially adopt this terminology. I can report that said 5-year-old's #1 favourite type of "battle weather" is a supercell.

Yes, most definitely!!

Our final stop is always a kicker. I would like to say we're just there for the view, but it's so much more than that. As we look out over the area we've been and take stock of the valley as it would have been before colonisation, how it is now, and how it will likely change again into the future.

Out today with our third year "Water and the Land" class. We've measured river cross sections & discharge, identified flow on topographic maps, worked out how precip converts to runoff, chatted water resources at Maroondah Dam and talked rivers & flooding in Yarra Glen! Always a fun day out!

Tropical Cyclone Alfred somewhat looking the part on Friday morning, with gusty cyclonic bands crossing north east NSW and south east QLD, and anticyclonic outflow evident (as cirrus) to the south west.

Cyclone Alfred, T-24-30 hours before it hits the Queensland and NSW coast. Keep an eye on warnings and please, please, please follow the advice of emergency services, especially if you're in low lying areas.

There had to be tornadoes somewhere I reckon, celebrating the arrival of their kindred spirit 🤣

My favourite thing about our building at Monash. Asked by the dept to find an interesting weather image. Ended up that extra bit special for me - it's the day my daughter was born (of course the daughter of two atmos/ocean scientists would be born on such spectacular and interesting weather day 😁)

Dishes done, kids in bed, and husband and I spend our Monday night watching BoM leadership being grilled at Senate Estimates. Extra fun being played at 1.5x speed. What have our lives become?!?!

He was talking about it in the context of an EU-wide climate risk assessment that was recently completed so I can only guess that it's in that document. Might be a good place to start.

Nope. I'm listening to him talk at an event.

Yesterday, my federal agency (NSF) experienced a sudden and mass firing of over 10% of our workforce. My own Division lost 20% of its staff. In the blink of an eye, we lost many brilliant scientists, dedicated civil servants, and parents/spouses/caregivers who no longer have a paycheck. The firing was completely arbitrary, with no actual plan to achieve "efficiency" but instead just picking off anyone with the fewest job protections. I grieve for my former colleagues and extend my hand to be of help however I can. I still have a job - not based on my abilities but simply because my status makes me harder to fire. But who knows what comes next. I'm hoping this assault on science and government is just a passing storm, but even then the damage has already been devastating - careers broken, research disrupted, and resources wasted. Science is the goose that lays golden eggs - unleashing human ingenuity and systematic thinking toward discoveries that transform our society for the better. Public science funding creates space for research that may not have immediate applications but will yield dividends down the road. Unfortunately, right now the science goose is being strangled and those golden eggs are being lost. Our society will be poorer, sicker, and weaker as a result.

From NSF EAR program director Raleigh Martin on LinkedIn

#climatesky #greensky

"Predictability and reliability is an asset in the global economy." EU Director-General Kurt Vandenberghe. This is EXACTLY why the science is critical to maintain and grow. If we can't understand the climate system, we can't predict it.

EU Director-General Kurt Vandenberghe says that ~70% of the climate risk in Europe is not being addressed by current policy. If that's in Europe, what does that mean for the rest of the world?