Esther Mullens
Assistant Professor University of Florida
- Gainesville FL
Esther Mullens' researches precipitating weather systems, including extreme events, climate variability and the interactions therein.
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
As the world warms, freezing rain shifts to the U.S. South
Science online
2026-02-03
Over the weekend of 24–25 January, a major winter storm blanketed the eastern United States in soft snow. Then, in many places, the powder gave way to freezing rain, glazing trees and roads in heavy, dangerous ice, bringing down power lines, and depriving 1 million people of light and heat. A handful of scientists are studying how this rare but destructive form of precipitation might be changing in a warming world, drawing on long-term records, new measurements, and computer modeling.
UF joins prestigious UCAR Consortium to advance atmospheric and earth science research
UF News online
2025-11-03
The University of Florida has been accepted as a member of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a premier consortium that unites top-tier institutions in atmospheric and Earth system sciences. This new partnership opens the door to expanded research collaborations, advanced training opportunities and unparalleled access to cutting-edge resources for UF students and faculty.
Study: Expect more hurricanes like Frances in a warmer world, but with way more rain
Florida Today online
2025-06-01
Hurricane Frances stalled over the Space Coast for what seemed a brutal, biblical eternity. The 2004 storm caused more than a quarter-billion in damages in Brevard County. Now scientists warn that type of tempest is increasingly likely as our world warms.
‘Rainesville’: Overused pun or a real weather pattern? Experts say ‘a little bit of both’
The Alligator online
2024-04-01
Anyone who stays in Gainesville for more than a few days will probably see rain. Anyone who stays in Gainesville a few minutes after that rain starts will inevitably hear someone call the city “Rainesville.” UF students often believe — perhaps due to the inescapability of the “Rainesville” pun — that its frequent showers make Gainesville wetter than other Florida cities. But though Gainesville does rain often, it doesn’t stand out in Florida, which is a rainy state in general, said UF geography professor Esther Mullens.
What Is a Bomb Cyclone?
Scientific American online
2022-01-28
A bomb cyclone is a large, intense midlatitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation. It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly—by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. Two famed meteorologists, Fred Sanders and John Gyakum, gave this pattern its name in a 1980 study.
Articles
The Role of Natural Climate Variability in Freezing Rain Occurrence across Central and Eastern North America
Journal of ClimateMullens
2025-12-08
Freezing rain is highly disruptive to society, ecology, and transportation; however, the driving physical processes governing variability and trends in freezing rain have not been extensively studied. This work investigated the temporal and spatial variability of freezing rain occurrence across eastern North America, using ERA5 reanalysis data from 1941 to 2020. After validation of freezing rain frequencies over time using 132 station sites, relationships between freezing rain and several modes of natural variability that influence North American temperature and hydroclimate are investigated across subdomains.
A Climatology of Atmospheric River Severity Using an Adjusted IVT Scaling across U.S. Subdomains
Journal of ClimateWang & Mullens
2025-12-03
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) have received attention from researchers due to their roles in hydrological cycle. To characterize AR impacts, a severity scale, based on integrated vapor transport (IVT) and duration, was introduced by Ralph et al. This scale provides a useful public metric to rank ARs and categorize impacts for decision support over the western United States. However, the scale uses fixed IVT thresholds reflective of this region and is less applicable to other climates. Here, we apply relative thresholds based on regional IVT climatology to adapt the severity scale in several U.S. subdomains.
Drought to Flood to Drought: A Review of Definitions of Precipitation Whiplash Events, What Causes Them and Their Impacts Over the Continental United States
International Journal of ClimatologyMullens & Engström
2025-04-01
Precipitation whiplash, the rapid shift from drought to flooding, or vice versa, exacerbates the impact of both extremes compared to if they were to occur separately. The recognition of these types of events is relatively recent, and event precursors, driving meteorology and impacts are poorly understood. In response to this, this review summarises the current state of science of precipitation whiplash events in the United States, analysing event definitions, driving meteorology, impacts and the spatial distribution of the studies.
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