ARKANSAS, USA — A severe thunderstorm watch in our area this week made history when the alert was issued by a woman—a first for the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.
Meteorologist Liz Leitman says that even though she was in her first lead forecaster training shift in Norman Oklahoma that night, she's been working for the SPC for 13 years.
She says there are only five lead forecaster spots responsible for issuing severe thunderstorm and tornado watches for the entire country, and Leitman says in the past meteorology has been a male-dominated field.
That's been changing over the past decade as she says more women are working in meteorology—she believes it's important for representation:
"Whether it's a woman or a person of color, whenever they see someone that looks like them doing something that they're passionate about... they think, 'hey, I can do this too,'" says Leitman
Leitman says students interested in meteorology should talk to their science teachers and school counselors about visiting a National Weather Service office near them.
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