Honoured to receive the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize in Geography for research on pyrogeography, #wildfires, Earth system science, and #climate change impacts.

So grateful for the mentorship, collaboration, and shared curiosity that make this work possible. I owe a lot of people a lot of beer! 🙂

🚨 Launched: State of Wildfires Report 2024-25

The Americas felt the harsh reality of what it means to live on a more fire-prone planet, with extreme #wildfire episodes made 2-3 times more likely by #climate change.

🔥 Full details via our brand new website: stateofwildfires.com/latest-report/

Published today: our new paper showing a 44-year trend of increasing global wildfire disasters (fatalities and economic losses) due to climate change-induced extreme weather. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Well this has to go straight on the recommended reading list for people entering the field… or just seeking to broaden their fire knowledge! 😁

🔥 Our new research in @science.org shows that people are increasingly exposed to fires globally, driven by overlapping shifts in where #fires occur and where people live.

But changes in exposure vary hugely by region and are shaped by different population dynamics.👇

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🌳 🔥 🌎 Our new paper: The extreme fire-prone #weather underpinning some of the worst #wildfire episodes this century has become more than twice as likely due to #climate change—a trend now evident across much of the world's tropical and mid-latitude #forests.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New study from my group with stellar international team.

A multi-national dataset of prescribed #fires compiled and standardised from national records, with contemporaneous #weather conditions, land cover, fuel bed type, ++, included with each record.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Journal of #Pyrogeography has launched this week - we warmly welcome your submissions!

We cover landscape #fire interactions with #climate, #ecosystems, and #society and welcome studies from diverse research fields spanning the natural and social sciences.

www.sciencedirect.com/journal/jour...

Journal of #Pyrogeography has launched this week - we warmly welcome your submissions!

We cover landscape #fire interactions with #climate, #ecosystems, and #society and welcome studies from diverse research fields spanning the natural and social sciences.

www.sciencedirect.com/journal/jour...

Adverse wildfire conditions will resurge somewhat today (very low humidity & stronger winds, though not as bad as Tue) across SoCal. Unfortunately, another period of offshore winds now appears likely next week as well. No rain next 10 days. #CAwx #CAfire #PalisadesFire #EatonFire

Here's a schematic I published in this 2021 piece to illustrate how even a modest delay in onset of rainy season in Southern California can dramatically amplify wildfire risk by lengthening seasonal overlap between dry vegetation and strong offshore winds during Oct-Jan. #CAfire

A disaster is a function of three things: the hazard itself, people's vulnerability to the hazard, and their exposure. @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social explains eloquently how the LA fires are a perfect storm of all three. Read more:

Here's the reality about the #LAFires this week: this isn't the first time ANY of these places have burned. Not even close. In 2018, we mapped CA fire history to look at fire frequency across SoCal. Santa Monica Mtns area burns more than anywhere else -- up to once per decade in a given spot. 🧵

Southern California now sees longer fire weather seasons, like many other places worldwide

Human-caused climate change means hot, dry, windy conditions happen more often, priming landscapes to burn more easily if ignition occurs

Matt Jones et al 2022 agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...