FSU meteorology alum wins second TV news Emmy

FSU alumnus Alan Sealls, chief meteorologist at television station WKRG in Mobile, Ala., was a winner at the 34th Annual Suncoast Emmy Awards.

The award, which recognized his work on a 2009 hurricane story called “Ida Thought We Were Done,” was the second TV news Emmy of his career. His first came when he worked at a station in Chicago.

TV news Emmys are awarded by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Suncoast region includes all of Florida as well as southern Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Over the course of his career, Sealls has garnered many awards. In addition to winning two Emmys and being nominated for half a dozen, Sealls, who earned his master’s degree in meteorology from FSU in 1987, won a 2009 national award from the American Meteorological Society for excellence in science reporting for a series on climate change. And the Alabama Associated Press Broadcasters Association has twice named him “Best Weather Anchor.”

Sealls, who has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell, says FSU was important to his career. “I tell people all the time that grad school at FSU for meteorology was all work and no play,” he says. “The truth is that was by my choice, but it was one of the best investments I made in my career. I learned a lot about weather and about my abilities.

"It gave me the confidence to later take on any professional challenge. The rewarding part is seeing people who were in my program who are now meteorology professors, broadcasters, and forecasters who all make huge contributions to society in providing information that makes our society stronger and also saves lives.”

In addition to his work at WKRG-TV in Mobile, Sealls teaches weather broadcasting at the University of South Alabama.