Andrew Dessler
Professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M; writes The Climate Brink with Zeke Hausfather.
Everything they publish, on ppll ↗
Andrew Dessler did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Our reading
Rising atmospheric water vapor raises the ceiling on how extreme rainfall events can become
Their wordsSo the increase in PWAT is not just a weirdo statistic. It is a statement about the ceiling on the worst rain events we can face.
↗The Atmosphere Just Set a Water Vapor Recordtheclimatebrink.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Our reading
Climate change made the July 2025 Texas flooding more intense than it otherwise would have been
Their wordsGiven that we can connect increases in PWAT to global warming, we can confidently conclude that climate change made this rain event more intense than it otherwise would have been.
↗The Atmosphere Just Set a Water Vapor Recordtheclimatebrink.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- 10 days earlier
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Their wordsthe temperatures produced under RCP8.5/SSP5-8.5 are a reasonable upper bound on what the future climate might be.
↗The Worst Case Is Still on the Tabletheclimatebrink.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsKeeping the RCP8.5/SSP5-8.5 runs as a plausible upper limit is particularly important given that recent research has emphasized the possibility that models are underestimating future warming.
↗The Worst Case Is Still on the Tabletheclimatebrink.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsIn fact, conventional risk management tells us that, when consequences are severe, low-probability extreme outcomes can determine the response.
↗The Worst Case Is Still on the Tabletheclimatebrink.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 3 weeks earlier
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Their wordsThe catch is that the future world that has been warmed by greenhouse gases and a present-day world that has been temporarily warmed by El Niño can have the same global-average temperature while having significant differences in the impacts of this warming.
↗Is this El Niño a glimpse of a future, hotter Earth?theclimatebrink.com
- 5 days earlier
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Their wordsClimate change is absolutely making these wildfires more severe - there should be zero doubt about that.
↗♫ Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ♫theclimatebrink.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsYou read that right: The cost of climate-worsened wildfire smoke alone is larger than what earlier studies said every other estimated cost of climate change would be, combined.
↗♫ Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ♫theclimatebrink.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsThis should turbocharge our resolve to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
↗♫ Smoke Gets in Your Eyes ♫theclimatebrink.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 9 days earlier
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Their wordsThe relevant human activity was not fossil-fuel combustion but bad farming practices that contributed to the Dust Bowl.
↗Fixing one of climate’s worst plotstheclimatebrink.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsIrrigation cools the surface, and the expansion of agriculture and irrigation in the central U.S. in the middle of the 20th century played a key role in why heatwaves were low in the middle of the 20th century
↗Fixing one of climate’s worst plotstheclimatebrink.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsThis differs from the Dust Bowl because it is a global signal, occurring essentially everywhere. This is almost certainly due to greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.
↗Fixing one of climate’s worst plotstheclimatebrink.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 5 days earlier
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Their wordsIf you cool the Earth by 10 degrees Fahrenheit, you end up with a completely different planet.
↗Wildfires are remaking the worldtheclimatebrink.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsThe transformation to come will be decidedly nonlinear, meaning it will not occur as small impacts over many years but rather a series of infrequent, huge events of enormous destructive power.
↗Wildfires are remaking the worldtheclimatebrink.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsAt this point, we've missed the boat at completely preventing climate change. Our atmosphere has been fundamentally altered by carbon pollution.
↗Wildfires are remaking the worldtheclimatebrink.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 2 days earlier
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Their wordsIf you do not adjust the data for known biases, you're getting the wrong answer.
↗Raw Data, Wrong Answerstheclimatebrink.com 1st of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsthe opposition to adjustments is entirely instrumental: climate skeptics like the results that the raw, biased data give them for the US, and they don't like the results that bias-corrected data give them.
↗Raw Data, Wrong Answerstheclimatebrink.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
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Their wordsthe heat of the 1930s was a regional event, due to a combination of unforced variability and human activities (poor agricultural land management).
↗Raw Data, Wrong Answerstheclimatebrink.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 3 weeks earlier
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Our reading
Climate models are underestimating how intense heatwaves become at a given level of global warming.
Their wordsthe temperatures seen in France show that climate models continue to underpredict the magnitude of heatwaves for a particular level of global warming.
↗Deadly heat wave in France shows the future of climate risktheclimatebrink.com 1st of 2 in this piece
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Their wordsWithout a move away from fossil fuels, future heatwaves will keep testing the limits of public health systems and more people will die.
↗Deadly heat wave in France shows the future of climate risktheclimatebrink.com 2nd of 2 in this piece