Dr. Esther Mullens

Assistant Professor

Mullens Lab Webpage(opens in new tab)

Curriculum Vitae(opens in new tab)

ORCID

Affiliate Member

UF Water Institute

University of Oklahoma South Central Climate Adaptation Center

School of National Resources and the Environment

Focus Areas

Research Statement

My research interests surround precipitation variability – in particular in its extremes (drought, floods), as well as climate dynamics, and climate adaptation. My other joys are in mentoring undergraduate research, supporting stakeholder science through assisting with climate data interpretation, and assisting in a recent early-career workshop facilitated by CS-CASC. I had the privilege of co-authoring the Southern Great Plains Chapter of the National Climate Assessment (NCA4). At the University of Florida, I will be expanding the meteorological teaching and research within the department of Geography. I will also continue to work with colleagues at OU on the PRES2iP project, which aims to improve our understanding and prediction of heavy precipitation at seasonal to sub-seasonal lead times.

Recent Funded Projects

NSF-AGS Physical and Dynamic Meteorology 2021-4 (PI: $294,440) Thermodynamic Modification of Winter Storms

Recent Publications

Britton, A. R., & Mullens, E. D. (2026). A Weather Regime‐Based Analysis of Freezing Rain Trends in a Warmer Climate for Eastern North America. International Journal of Climatology, 46(3), e70233.

Wang, H., & Mullens, E. D. (2025). A Climatology of Atmospheric River Severity Using an Adjusted IVT Scaling across US Subdomains. Journal of Climate, 38(24), 7269-7284.

Mullens, E. D. (2025). The role of natural climate variability in freezing rain occurrence across Central and Eastern North America. Journal of Climate, 38(24), 7491-7507.

Britton, A. R., & Mullens, E. D. (2025). Temporal and Spatial Analysis of Freezing Rain Regimes over Eastern North America. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 64(9), 1177-1190.

Wang, H., & Mullens, E. (2024). Role of single and compound Pacific natural variability in extratropical cyclone activity over North America. International Journal of Climatology, 44(2), 647-667.

Williamson, M., Ash, K., Erickson, M. J., & Mullens, E. (2023). Damages associated with excessive rainfall outlooks (ERO) and missed flash floods. Weather and Forecasting, 38(6), 971-984.

Mullens, E., & McPherson, R. (2023). The Changing Nature of Hazardous Weather and Implications for Transportation: Example from Oklahoma, USA. Climate, 11(2), 32.

Júnior, R. D. S. N., Olivier, L., Wallach, D., Mullens, E., Fraisse, C. W., & Asseng, S. (2023). A simple procedure for a national wheat yield forecast. European Journal of Agronomy, 148, 126868.

VanBuskirk, O., Ćwik, P., McPherson, R. A., Lazrus, H., Martin, E., Kuster, C., & Mullens, E. (2021). Listening to stakeholders: Initiating research on subseasonal-to-seasonal heavy precipitation events in the contiguous United States by first understanding what stakeholders need. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 102(10), E1972-E1986.

Mullens, E. D. (2021). Meteorological cause and characteristics of widespread heavy precipitation in the Texas Gulf watershed 2003–2018. International Journal of Climatology, 41(6), 3743-3760.

Educational Background

  • Ph.D. in Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, 2014
  • B.Sc. in Meteorology, University of Reading, 2007

Current Graduate Students

Alumni Graduate Students

  • Dr. Austin Britton
  • Meirah Williamson
  • Megan Borowski
  • Dr. Hongsheng Wang