John Kennedy
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him
Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO.
All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Posts
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
With approximations and back-of-an-envelope stuff that will make you cry.
https://diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/28/whats-a-zettajoule/
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Long station series are vital for monitoring long-term environmental change. The report recognises 474 long-term observing stations worldwide including 10 that have been operating for more than 250 years.
https://library.wmo.int/records/item/58048-centennial-observing-stations-state-of-recognition-report-2025
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
When climate sceptics outsource their handwaving to AI the results are... predictable.
[With lovingly crafted 100% human MS Paint original artwork.]
https://diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/not-waving-but-drowning/
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
I looked through the 374 page tipping points report (https://global-tipping-points.org/) that came out before COP last year and saw one example of something actually being measured. Most of the tipping points remained somewhat nebulous, modelled risks, schematics etc.
Occasionally, a paper will come out with a suggestion, but I don't know of anyone doing routine monitoring of tipping points, at least not the way we monitor global temperature, say. Probably ignorance on my part.
However, it seems difficult too. Part of the difficulty is the availability of obs. Part of the difficulty is communication. Part of the difficulty is time scales which can be long with important changes stretched out over decades. Part of the difficulty is that, in many cases, we won't know when we've passed a tipping point even if we're watching it very closely.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Has global warming accelerated? Why? How much? How do we know? What does it all mean? etc. With hand-drawn illustrations, dodgy metaphors, and a complete lack of clear answers.
https://diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/07/for-a-rainy-day/
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
ENSO is coming
https://diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2025/07/04/an-egregious-encomium-or-execration-of-the-evanescent-ephemeral-and-effervescent-made-eternal-and-enduring-through-the-excretions-of-an-eejit/#:~:text=the%20broader%20discourse.-,2026%2D03%2D06,-%3A%20I%20should%20probably
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Can we have a prestige journal with a bit of attitude please, a little bite, a hint of tooth. Articles I want to read not shred. Papers the authors might actually have enjoyed writing.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
A. Verisimilitude.
https://diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/03/verisimilitude/
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
On data, reality, realism, the texture of reality and, yes, verisimilitude.
https://diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/03/verisimilitude/
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Open review until 11 March
https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2025-825/
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Your suggestion for a fuzzy threshold is an interesting one (and thanks for the kind words about the blog post). It acknowledges the uncertainty, which is great. Whether it's practical, I don't know.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
The difficulty for the plot is, which pre-industrial baseline do you pick? The dataset Copernicus produce only goes back to 1940, so the BBC would have to choose a method for converting to a pre-industrial baseline. There are multiple methods. The method you choose changes the message.
See https://diagrammonkey.wordpress.com/2023/11/22/will-we-reach-1-5c-in-2023-or-2c-on-tuesday/ for a more detailed analysis
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.
Climate scientist, diagram monkey, probabilistic historian and scientific illustrator. Occasional glass engraver, embroiderer, and computer 3d stuff-er. He/him Currently self-employed and working on a short contract with the WMO. All views and opinions are my own. This is not, sadly, a promise of novelty: it's a disclaimer. Though, on reflection, it sounds slightly megalomaniacal. All views? Really?! No, just the ones I express.