Name: Meet this NYC meteorologist who's been predicting weather for 40 years
Uploaded: 2023-03-30
Duration: 7 min 26 s
Description: Chief Meteorologist Janice Huff shares a behind-the-scenes look at how weather forecasting at NBC 4 New York comes together. She delves into her successful journey of nearly 40 years in the field, from wanting to be a meteorologist at age 10 to meeting President Barack Obama. She also honors June Bacon-Bercey, the first on-air Black female meteorologist in the U.S.

All right, so this is our studio. This is [Studio] 3K and this is where everything happens. I'm Janice Huff. I'm the chief meteorologist at NBC News 4 New York. We are the station scientists, even when it's not the weather, even when it's earthquakes, even when it's—anything that has to do with science, NASA, space, whatever. You have to be a scientist and a presenter, both. We don't use a script because the graphics that we show, like the satellite pictures, radar, and all the other graphics with all the fronts and things and the 10-day and all that—we're basically telling it through through the pictures. I've been doing this job here at NBC in New York for 28 years. I've been in television, weather broadcasting, probably closer to 40 years. This is one of our touchscreen monitors. We can use this for weather, as well as this large monitor right here, also useful. And then over here is our green screen. We stand here and do weather here. It's a big studio with lots of monitors that we take full advantage of. These are not all my clothes. Only this stuff is mine. But we have lots of weather anchors here. So six of us. And between the six of us, we all have clothes back here and lockers, and places to put our shoes. People do recognize me, people always have something to say about the weather. We are extremely accurate, but that's not what people remember. They always remember the one time when you may not get the snowfall right, or you may not get the area that gets the rain versus the snow. And everybody always remembers those times, of course. Blizzards are our big thing here on the East Coast. Forecasting itself is probably one of the biggest challenges. And we are most accurate, at least 90 to 95% of the time. There's very few times when the forecast is doesn't turn out the way we had hoped or the way we have predicted it. There's 10 meteorologists in our family that are helping each other all the time and collaborating, especially when there are big, big storms. We probably have the biggest team of anybody here in this area, we're the envy of most. Janice has such a rich history here. She is so kind and warm and welcoming to everyone. It is just so easy to work with her. And the person you see on camera who's so inviting and warm and welcoming to the viewers, someone who really cares—she's like that off the air. When we have the breaking weather situations, a lot of times that can be serious, but kind of we just watch her and it's just—it comes so easy to her. So I would say kind of, we watch an awful lot of us because it just rolls right off the tongue. She's a pro. She's really ready for anything at any time. We are in the Storm Team 4 Weather Center for NBC. It's right behind our studio walls. Our studio is just on the other side of this wall. It's a team effort. It takes a lot of people to get this act together every day. We have several shows throughout the day, starting with our morning news at 4 a.m. We also have an 11 a.m. newscast. This is where all of the work gets done every day for all of our weather casts that go into each and every newscast. That's all of the forecasting. That's all of the graphics that gets done for the actual weather cast, and all the discussion. And we have our lunch here. We live here pretty much. There are people here practically 24/7. There's only a couple of hours at night when no one's here. We collaborate with Janice. It's pretty much an ongoing conversation between the members of the weather team. We use Microsoft Teams to basically keep everybody abreast of any changes in the forecast. Any interesting tidbits in the forecast that one of us is saying, we'll put it into a team's note so that everybody can see it. Janice is pretty much on call 24/7. I go home and about 11:45 Every night and get right back up at 9:40 in the morning and start all over again. That's interesting. I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was about 10, I think. I discovered the word "meteorology" by reading the encyclopedia because back then we didn't have computers at home. That's when I figured out what a meteorologist does. And I loved the weather since I was a little little kid. And so I decided then when I was 10 that that's what I was going to study when I went to college. My degree is a Bachelor of Science in meteorology from Florida State University. My minor is mathematics. Graduating from college, I was the first person in my family to do that. Even though it was many years ago, I still look back on that as a major accomplishment. And to also get a degree in meteorology, which is a major accomplishment for anybody. Once I got to interview President Obama. A bunch of meteorologists, including myself, were picked to come to the White House when he was president and talk about the climate report, the climate assessment. And it was amazing to be there and actually speak to the President about the state of the climate and the weather and be at the White House which is really cool. Definitely as a woman of color, I didn't see people who looked like me doing weather on television when I was growing up in the '60s and '70s. There were a handful of women, one being June Bacon-Bercey, who actually broke that barrier before I did, and became the first African American woman with a degree in meteorology to actually do the weather on TV back in the '70s. So there were a couple of people that came before me. Yet, I never saw her on TV when she was actually on television back then, because she was in Buffalo, New York, and I was in South Carolina. So I didn't see anyone who looked like me doing what I do. That's why I never thought about having a career on TV doing it. I bought this when I was in Tanzania in the Serengeti. We went on vacation. It was more than just going on vacation. It was kind of symbolic, in a way. I've never been to Africa, so. And since the majority of my roots are in Africa, not from that country. But it was my first trip to the motherland, as you say, and it was quite the experience of being in a country where practically everybody looks like you. But that's the flag of Tanzania. And I've wear it all the time. I never take it off. That was in 2018. It's just just a reminder of my trip and when it meant to be there. We expect it to be quiet night tonight. The fun part about this job is just being able to do what I love. It's not really work when you do what you love, right? Most people are never going to be able to say they've worked anywhere for 28 years. But to say that I've worked at 30 Rock for 28 years is a tremendous accomplishment. Of course, there's a little bit of luck involved and things that I have no control over. But that's a huge deal now when I think about it, and I'm really happy that I've been able to be here this long. If you want to be a meteorologist, focus on your studies, math and science.

Chief Meteorologist Janice Huff shares a behind-the-scenes look at how weather forecasting at NBC 4 New York comes together. She delves into her successful journey of nearly 40 years in the field, from wanting to be a meteorologist at age 10 to meeting President Barack Obama. She also honors June Bacon-Bercey, the first on-air Black female meteorologist in the U.S.

Meet this NYC meteorologist who's been predicting weather for 40 years

Features

Chief Meteorologist Janice Huff shares a behind-the-scenes look at how weather forecasting at NBC 4 New York comes together.

Meet this NYC meteorologist predicting weather for 40 years

Bye. All right. So this is our studio and this is where everything happens. I'm Janice Hoff. I'm the chief meteorologist at NBC News for New York. We are the station scientist even when it's not the weather, even when it's earthquakes, even when it's anything that has to do with science, NASA Space, whatever you have to be a scientist and a presenter. Both we don't use a script because the graphics that we show like the satellite pictures, radar and all the other graphics with all the fronts and things and the 10 day and all that, we're basically telling it through, through the pictures. I've been doing this job here at NBC in New York for 28 years. I've been in television. Weather broadcasting probably closer to 40 years. This is one of our three monitors. We can use this for weather as well as this large monitor also use. And then over here is our Green Street. We stand here and do weather here. It's a big studio with lots of monitors that we take full advantage of. These are not all my clothes. Um Only this stuff is mine, but we have lots of weather anchors here. So, uh, six of us and between the six of us, we all have clothes back here and lockers and places to put our shoes. People do recognize me. People always have something to say about the weather. We are extremely accurate, but that's not what people remember. They always remember the one time when you may not get the snowfall, right? Or you may not get the area that gets the rain versus the snow. And everybody always remembers those times. Of course, blizzards are our big thing here on the east coast forecast itself. Probably one of the biggest challenges and we are most accurate at least 90 to 95% of the time. There's very few times when the forecasts doesn't turn out the way we had hoped or the way we have predicted it, there's 10 meteorologists in our family that are helping each other all the time and collaborating, especially when there are big, big storms. We probably have the biggest team of anybody here in this area. We're the envy of, of most Janice has such a rich history here. She is so kind and warm and welcoming to everyone. It is just so easy to work with her and the person you see on camera who's so inviting and warm and welcoming to the viewers, someone who really cares. She's like that off the air when we have the breaking weather situations. A lot of times that can be serious, but kind of, we just watch her and it's just, it comes so easy to her. So I would say kind of, we watch in all a lot of us because it just rolls right off the tongue. She's a, she's really ready for anything at any time. We are in the storm. Team four weather center for NBC. It's right behind our studio wall. So our studio is just on the other side of this wall. It's a team effort. It takes a lot of people to get this act together every day. We have several shows throughout the day, starting with our morning news at four AM. We also have an 11 AM news cast. This is where all of the work gets done every day for all of our weather casts that go into each and every newscast. That's all of the forecasting. That's all of the graphics that gets done for the actual weather cast and all of the discussion. And we have our lunch here. We live here pretty much. There are people here practic 24/7 and there's only a couple of hours at night when no one's here. We collaborate with Janice. It's pretty much an ongoing conversation between the members of the weather team. We use Microsoft teams to basically keep everybody abreast of any changes in forecasts, any interesting tidbits in the forecast that one of us is seeing. We'll put it into a team's note so that everybody can see it. Janice is pretty much on call 24 7. I go home at about 1145 every night and get right back up at 9:45 AM and start all over again. That's interesting. I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was about 10. I think I discovered the word meteorology by reading the encyclopedia because back then we didn't have computers at home. That's when I figured out what a meteorologist does. And I love the weather since I was a little, little kid. And so I decided then when I was 10, that that's what I was going to study when I went to college. My degree is a Bachelor of Science in meteorology from Florida State University. My minor is mathematics. Graduated from college. I was the first person in my family to do that even though it was many years ago, I still look back on that as a major accomplishment and to also get a degree in meteorology, which is a major accomplishment for anybody. Once I got to interview President Obama, a bunch of meteorologists including myself, were picked to come to the White House when he was president and talk about the climate report, the climate assessment. And it was amazing to be there and actually speak to the president about the state of the climate and the weather and be at the White House, which is really cool. Definitely as a woman of color. I didn't see people who looked like me doing weather on television when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies, there were a handful of women, one being June Bacon Bey, who actually broke that barrier before I did and became the first African American woman with a degree in meteorology to actually do the weather on TV, back in the seventies. So there were a couple of people that came before me yet. I never saw her on TV when she was actually on television back then because she was in Buffalo, New York and I was in South Carolina. So I didn't see anyone who looked like me doing what I do. That's why I never thought about having a career on TV, doing it. I bought this when I was in Tanzania in the Serengeti. We went on vacation. It was more than just going on vacation. It was kind of symbolic in a way, I've never been to Africa. So, and since the majority of my roots are in Africa, not from that country, but it was on my first trip to the motherland, as you say. And it was quite the experience of being in a country where practically everybody looks like you. But that's the flag of Tanzania and I wear it all the time. I never take it off. That was in 2018. It is just a reminder of my trip and what it meant to be there. We expect it to be a quiet night tonight. The fun part about this job is just being able to do what I love. It's not really work when you do what you love. Right. Most people are never going to be able to say they've worked anywhere for 28 years. But to say that I've worked at 30 rock for 28 years is a tremendous accomplishment. Of course, there's a little bit of luck involved in things that I have no control over. But that's a huge deal now, when I think about it and I'm really happy that I've been able to be here this long if you want to be a meteorologist. Focus on your studies, math and science.