Dr Sarah Wilson Kemsley

I joined Professor Louise Slater’s Hydro-Climate Extremes group in August 2025 as a Senior Researcher in Machine Learning and Climate. My current research is focussed on the development of an early-warning system for lethal hot and humid extremes using ML methods and weather forecast data. I also have a keen interest in climate uncertainty and explainable machine learning.

From 2022 to 2025, I was a Senior Research Associate at the University of East Anglia (UEA), working on the project "Machine Learning Approaches to Understand and Constrain the Role of Clouds in Climate Change". My research focused on the role of high clouds in driving uncertainty in climate model projections of the Earth’s response to increasing greenhouse gas forcing. Since 2025, I have also held a position as Visiting Research Fellow at the Climatic Research Unit.

I completed my PhD in 2022 under the supervision of Professor Tim Osborn at the Climatic Research Unit, UEA. My PhD research combined historical weather station observations with climate model outputs to construct realistic sequences of weather under a wide range of global warming levels.

Beyond my research, I am committed to outreach and widening participation. I have contributed to the Norwich Science Festival for four years, completed more than fifteen in-school placements with the charity The Brilliant Club, and volunteered as a data science coach with codebar.

Awards

• Early Career Scientist Award (CFMIP Conference, July 2025)
• Student and Early Career Scientist Conference (Royal Met Soc, 2020)

• Ceppi, P., Wilson Kemsley, S., Andersen, H., Andrews, T., Kramer, R.J., Nowack, P., Wall, C.J. and Zelinka, M.D. (2026) Emerging low-cloud feedback and adjustment in global satellite observations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
• Wilson Kemsley, S., Nowack, P. and Ceppi, P. (2026) Recent Cloud Controlling Factor Analyses Indicate Higher Climate Sensitivity. Geophysical Research Letters, 53(3): e2025GL118366.
• Gollop, A., Wilson Kemsley, S., Osborn, T., Joshi, M., Stevens, D. and Harris, I. (2026) Utilising Benford's Law in the Validation of Precipitation Datasets. International Journal of Climatology. e70221.
• Wilson Kemsley, S., Nowack, P. and Ceppi, P. (2025) Climate models underestimate global decreases in high‐cloud amount with warming. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(7): e2024GL113316.
• Wilson Kemsley, S., Ceppi, P., Andersen, H., Cermak, J., Stier, P. and Nowack, P. (2024) A systematic evaluation of high-cloud controlling factors. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 24(14): 8295–8316.
• Wilson Kemsley, S., Osborn, T.J., Dorling, S.R. and Wallace, C. (2024) Pattern scaling the parameters of a Markov‐chain gamma‐distribution daily precipitation generator. International Journal of Climatology, 44(1): 144-159.
• Andersen, H., Cermak, J., Douglas, A., Myers, T.A., Nowack, P., Stier, P., Wall, C.J., et al. (2023) Sensitivities of cloud radiative effects to large-scale meteorology and aerosols from global observations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 23(18): 10775–10794.
• Wilson Kemsley, S., Osborn, T.J., Dorling, S.R., Wallace, C. and Parker, J. (2021) Selecting Markov chain orders for generating daily precipitation series across different Köppen climate regimes. International Journal of Climatology, 41(14): 6223-6237.