*According to the National Association of Black Journalists, there are 138 Black meteorologists in the U.S. and less than 50 percent are women.
As SandraRose reports, currently there are three Black female meteorologists in television news and those who rise to the chief meteorologist position face racist backlash.
Karlene Chavis, the first Black chief meteorologist in San Diego, said she’s been told by hateful viewers that she is “too street to be on TV” and that she “only got the job because she was Black.”
“All I could do was just realize I wasn’t doing this just for myself. I was doing this because of representation,” Chavis told The Washington Post.
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Meteorologist jobs are dominated by white men so Black women seeking to crack this industry face an arduous journey.
“I want the field to look like everyone that lives in the United States,” Chavis said. “Being a trailblazer means that I won’t be the last. I’m just the first.”
The other two nationally recognized Black female chief meteorologists are Janice Huff over at NBC 4 New York and Veronica Johnson, who in Dec. 2022, was named chief meteorologist at ABC News affiliate WJLA-TV in Washington, DC. It took her nearly 30 years to reach this milestone.
“Someone has to be the first,” Johnson told The Washington Post. “I’m still standing on the shoulders of the few that have come before me.”
Hear more from Johnson about her career journey via the YouTube clip above.
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