Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
We’re Kathy Kale Nelson and Linda LaTourelle — co-hosts of Ordinarily Extraordinary: Conversations with Women in STEM.
Our mission is to amplify the voices of ordinary women doing extraordinary work in science, technology, engineering, and math.
We’re deeply committed to:
- Normalizing the presence of women in STEM by making their stories visible
- Building community for women who may be the only ones like them in their workplace
- Educating listeners about the wide variety of STEM careers — and what they actually look like
- Empowering growth and retention by addressing the challenges behind the leaky pipeline
From early-career professionals to experienced leaders in a wide variety of STEM fields, our guests share how they got started, how they’ve grown, and what they’ve learned along the way. This podcast is a space where women in STEM can be seen, heard, and supported — because representation isn’t just powerful, it’s essential.
Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
111. Lydia Blume; Meteorologist; BS in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Lydia Blume is the Morning Meteorologist at WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota. Lydia has a Bachelor of Science degree in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology. She focuses on communications of scientific information to non-scientific people.
What do we talk about in this episode?
Lydia talks about her love for meteorology and weather from a young age. She grew up on a farm in rural South Dakota, fascinated by weather and never deviated in her goal of becoming a meteorologist. She shares the challenges of being a female meteorologist, including being pregnant, on live TV in the age of social media.
- "Nothing great comes from your comfort zone".
- Her insane schedule - she wakes up at 2 a.m. to get to work and prepare for live TV which starts at 5 a.m. All of this with a 16 month old baby.
- How she became interested in being a meteorologist at a young age and has been laster focused on achieving this goal ever since.
- How she handles the negative comments she gets from viewers (people are mean - be nice people!!)
- The importance of the spouse or life partner you choose. Her husband is her biggest champion and supporter.
- Being pregnant in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers on live TV.
- The science behind weather forecasting, weather balloons, and the importance of humans behind computer generated forecasts.
- Meteorologists are not weather girls!!!
Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio
You can support my podcast on Patreon here: https://patreon.com/user?u=72701887
Resources
Lydia Blume: https://www.facebook.com/lydiablumewx/
There are 122 National Weather Center Offices throughout the United States. They typically consist of 20 - 50 counties per office. (https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/wfos)
An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist, is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the
