Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
We’re Kathy Nelson and Linda LaTourelle — co-hosts of Ordinarily Extraordinary: Conversations with Women in STEM.
Kathy, an electrical engineer, launched the podcast in 2020 to share real, unfiltered stories of women working across STEM disciplines. Now with over 130 episodes, the mission remains the same: 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, 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
