Ginger Zee on Becoming a Meteorologist

Hey hey, Guideposts! I’m Ginger Zee, chief meterologist at ABC News.

I was inspired to become a meteorologist because I started loving weather at a very young age; most of us meteorologists do. I was watching storms come across Lake Michigan—we had a cottage for a short time—and I was able to see the power of thunderstorms: the lightning on that beautiful glass lake, the way that the thunderstorms moved in and the freak-outs that my mom had when they made it to our house.

So it seems strange to draw inspiration from natural disasters, but I have and I’ve had this unique opportunity to descend upon these places, these towns that for once in their lifetime, hopefully, have dealt with something that is so horrific. 

So I’ve had this strange perspective to go in and see how people react, and it’s interesting that they do it almost all the same, whether it’s a wildfire, a flash flood, a hurricane or a tornado, they go through the same emotions, they go through the same feelings and then right when it’s done—and this is where the inspiration comes—usually as I wrap up, I start to the see the human part come out and the humanity builds and you start to see people really helping each other.

So they’ve gone through the grief, the anger, the frustration, the “Why me, why did I lose everything?” and then they suddenly turn to help each other, and I always come away inspired and really, it gives me great perspective because I’ve been able to see people lose everything—sometimes lose others—and they still are able to rebound and come through life.

I find inspiration in a lot of places. I find it in my son, I find it in my husband. I find it so that I know that I have purpose and I’ve found that in family. That’s something that I didn’t have for a very long time, and I’m so grateful every day that I get to have that—and obviously a great job.