active social media presence.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Faculty_Spotlight_Emily_Powell_Quote.jpg\")
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Serving the public is what first drew Powell to studying weather patterns and continues to drive her research.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to take my interest in weather and society and my academic training and apply it to understand how weather and climate affect people and their environment,\u201d Powell said. \u201cFor instance, how weather and climate impact people\u2019s lifestyles, public health and safety, a community\u2019s economic solvency, how it affects our food supplies, and how it drives ecosystem change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powell\u2019s expertise comprises the drivers of seasonal hurricane forecasts, including the El Ni\u00f1o\/La Ni\u00f1a cycle. Known as the El Ni\u00f1o Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, the pattern affects temperature, precipitation, storm tracks and hurricane activity around the world.<\/p>\n
According to Powell, the heating and cooling of the equatorial Pacific Ocean influence atmospheric pressure patterns and the position and strength of the jet stream. That helps shape where storms track and can lead to persistent temperature and precipitation anomalies, including in Florida.<\/p>\n
El Ni\u00f1o is drawing heightened attention because 2026 is predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to reach record levels, with sea surface temperatures potentially rising nearly 3 degrees Celsius by winter. Powell cautions that increased risk does not guarantee a specific outcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing to keep in mind is that a strong or very strong El Ni\u00f1o event does not guarantee we\u2019ll see stronger or bigger impacts from the event,\u201d Powell cautioned. \u201cIt does, however, considerably increase the odds, or the likelihood that those expected impacts will occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Powell said Floridians could see the effects most strongly from late fall through winter and into spring. Wetter, cooler than normal weather is expected during colder months, along with an increased risk of severe weather, including tornadoes and more frequent rain, as El Ni\u00f1o favors a more active southern storm track.<\/p>\n
Besides providing crucial climate intel, another focus area is community resilience. Powell has worked with Florida Sea Grant and the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences to provide technical assistance and resilience support to low-capacity communities across the state, reinforcing the demand for credible, science-based information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen demand for weather and climate services go up over the years, and we try to communicate information and contextualize that information, particularly from national and local authorities, to ensure people have the right information and can make sense of that information so they can make well-informed decisions,\u201d Powell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen demand for weather and climate services go up over the years, and we try to communicate information and contextualize that information, particularly from national and local authorities, to ensure people have the right information and can make sense of that information so they can make well-informed decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Emily Powell, Florida State University state climatologist<\/p>\n
Powell\u2019s community impact also extends to Florida\u2019s Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network, where she serves as the state\u2019s co-coordinator. The grassroots precipitation-measurement network relies on volunteers who take daily measurements in their own backyards.<\/p>\n
Powell embraces the citizen science approach because it provides real-time data that can support precipitation forecasts, flash-flood monitoring, extreme storm tracking, drought monitoring and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to have a network of citizen scientists who are passionate about the weather,\u201d Powell added. \u201cWe get to work with people around the state who do this on their free time, and the data that they produce is freely available almost immediately to anyone who wants to look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with NOAA forecasting a below-normal hurricane season, Powell said one storm can still exploit a window of opportunity and cause widespread damage. She encourages the public to prepare early, regardless of the quieter forecast.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always need to be aware of the risk and stay prepared, no matter what the overall trend says,\u201d Powell advised.<\/p>\n
And while weather conditions change daily, Powell\u2019s mission remains constant: helping Floridians understand the risks ahead of time so that communities can make informed decisions before the next challenge arrives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida State University state climatologist Emily Powell turns complex historical weather trends into clear, decision-ready data for policy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[152821,56742,80169,28,152550,30,29],"class_list":["post-380785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-center-for-ocean-and-atmospheric-prediction-studies","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-faculty-spotlight","tag-florida","tag-florida-climate-center","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Faculty_Spotlight_Emily_Powell.jpg\")
Florida State University state climatologist Emily Powell turns complex historical weather trends into clear, decision-ready data for policy and planning.\t\t<\/p>\n