Vikki Thompson

@vikkithompson.bsky.social

532 Followers 207 Following

Climate scientist at the University of Edinburgh. Researching weather and climate extremes. Climate modelling, statistics, attribution.

Flooded street in Edinburgh
Poster: 2nd Scottish Climate Science Network Workshop, 10-11 December. ECCI Edinburgh. 'This event will build on last year's successful event bringing together climate scientists working across Scottish institutes. We welcome abstracts on all aspects of climate dynamics. An afternoon sub-event on Climate Services for Scotland, including a stakeholder panel, is planned. We welcome abstracts on Scottish-relevant weather and climate research for within this session. Abstract Deadline 25th September 2026
Altenahr's main square after the flooding in July 2021 (from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/10/german-valley-swept-away-cemeteries-gave-up-their-dead)
A puzzle of Storm Babet, with a piece missing
Fig 2a from https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025AV001963 Regional susceptibility to record-breaking humid heat from ERA5 and GCM perspectives, and its relationship to a key impact-relevant threshold. In (a), red coloration (columns of color table) corresponds to the current Tw record's inferred ERA5 annual exceedance probability. Green coloration (rows of color table) corresponds to the fraction of ensemble members, averaged across LEs, which contain at least one Tw event outside a GEV fit of that model's annual-maximum distribution, also excluding the largest value and for a GMST of +1°C.
Scientific poster: https://ed-hawkins.github.io/ReBASE/results/EGU_2026_ReBASE_poster.pdf
Scientific Poster: https://vikki-thompson.github.io/images/EGU26_poster_Happ%C3%A9.pdf
Advertisement poster for EMS Annual Meeting session. Text: 'Attribution of extreme weather events and their impacts (UP1). Abstract deadline March 27th. Convened by Tamara Happe, Vikki Thompson. Paolo Scussolini, Sjoukje Philip, Sarah Kew, Sanne Muis, and Doris Vertegaal.
Droughts cause a wide range of impacts - this image shows a dry riverbed in France.
My workplace for the past few years: KNMI radar tower and offices
Showing the rainfall of 14th July 2021 (upper left) and 5 alternative scenarios derived from a climate model, conditioned to the atmospheric circulation patterns of the observed event. Similar to fig.6 of https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02386-y
Map of European daily maximum temperatures for (1st July 2025) tomorrow's weather in (left) a present day climate and (right) a 1.5K warmer climate.
A selfie at parkrun wearing a climate striped tshirt
Science poster, available online: https://vikki-thompson.github.io/images/EGU25_poster_thompson.pdf Photo also features a 5 year old.
Poster, text: Networking Session: Comparing methods for extreme event attribution. Conveners: Vikki Thompson, Shirin Ermis, and Marylou Athanase. EGU General Assembly 2025. Friday 12.45-13.45 in room 2.43. Three images of extreme event attribution techniques. QR code links to https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/session/55165
Photo of me and my daughter outside the EGU General Assembly in 2022
Poster, text: Networking Session: Comparing methods for extreme event attribution. Conveners: Vikki Thompson, Shirin Ermis, and Marylou Athanase. EGU General Assembly 2025. Friday 12.45-13.45 in room 2.43. Three images of extreme event attribution techniques. QR code links to https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/session/55165
Figures taken from https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/climate-change-increased-the-likelihood-of-wildfire-disaster-in-highly-exposed-los-angeles-area/ showing the ERA5 Z500 field of Jan 8 2025 over California, and the closest analogues from a past and present period. Below, a timeseries of the change in frequency of similar events through time - showing an increase between 1950 and 2024.
Buildings on fire in London during the July 2022 heatwave
Advertisement for the EGU General Assembly 2025 session 'Future Changes in Weather and Climate Hazards around the World'. More details available: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/session/51888
Graph of number of events similar to STorm Bert (in the closest 5% of days) per year, 1950-2023. Shows an increasing trend of 0.05 events/year.
Maps of three similar sea level pressure patterns over the UK 23rd Nov 2024, 27th Oct 2005, and 28th Nov 2018.
Poster advertising #EGU25 session, future changes in weather and climate hazards around the world. More details: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/session/51888