FLORIDA — Irene Sans joined the Eye on the Storm team at Yale Climate Connections for the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. The move adds a Spanish-language meteorologist with nearly two decades of experience to the climate communication initiative.

Sans was born in Venezuela and moved to the United States at age nine. She grew up in Florida, where she studied meteorology at Florida State University. During college, she began producing weather segments in Spanish, noting at the time that fewer than six meteorologists in the U.S. were doing weather reporting in that language.

Her interest in weather began around age 10 after watching news weather reports, shifting from an early childhood ambition to become an astronaut. Over her career, she has lived in Massachusetts, Texas, and Orlando for work. Hurricanes have long fascinated her, particularly their early development stages and the factors that influence their intensity.

“Hurricanes fascinate me, particularly observing their early stages and the factors influencing their development,” Sans said. She added that she has observed weather events becoming more extreme over the past 20 years, with impacts growing more volatile as population increases in vulnerable areas.

Sans emphasized the heightened concern about climate change within Latino communities, citing their close ties to family and friends affected by extreme weather. “A large part of the Hispanic community is exposed to increasingly frequent adverse weather events affecting jobs, housing, finances, and health,” she said.

According to studies from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 78% of Latinos are concerned about global warming, with 43% of Spanish-speaking Latinos describing themselves as “very worried.” Sans said climate communicators must provide reliable, timely information paired with actionable solutions and reach both impacted populations and decision-makers.

She expressed hope that readers will better understand climate change and take steps to reduce its effects. She also called for leaders to collaborate for the well-being of all living beings without prioritizing personal gain, saying she would like to see a shift toward a healthier future for the planet.

No independent assessment of Irene Sans’s claims was available.