July, 2012 - June Bacon-Bercey - Dark & Stormy

June Bacon-Bercey

June Bacon-Bercey was the only African-American woman to earn a degree in meteorology in the 1950s.  She became interested in science in high school despite attending a segregated school in which she was not encouraged in the subjects of math, physics, and chemistry. However, when she returned to a racially mixed school in Kansas  her enthusiasm for science returned. She attended the University of California in Los Angeles, where she majored in math and meteorology. One of her teachers there suggested that she take sewing instead of meteorology. However, as Bacon Bercey told Contemporary Black Biography, when she earned an "A" in thermodynamics and a "B" in home economics, she knew that her decision to pursue a degree in science was the right one.

In 1970 Bacon-Bercey began working for an NBC television station in Buffalo as a correspondent on scientific news.  Soon after she began working at the station, the current weathercaster, who had a chronic gambling problem, was fired after being arrested for robbery. The station needed someone to fill his position in a hurry and Bacon-Bercey was the obvious choice since she had a degree in meteorology. Bacon-Bercey was so adept at the job that she became the station's chief meteorologist, one of the first African-American women to hold such a position.  In 1972 Bacon-Bercey became the first African American and the first woman to earn the American Meteorological Society's Seal of Approval for excellence in television weather casting. In 1977 Bacon-Bercey participated in a television game show called The $128,000 Question and she used her winnings to establish a scholarship fund for women studying atmospheric sciences. Bacon-Bercey believed the scholarship would help more women become meteorologists.  After working in Buffalo, she spent nearly ten years as the Chief of Broadcast Services at NOAA and worked on a number of other projects. After over three decades in the field of meteorology, Bacon-Bercey retired and became a consultant and an educator, dedicating much of her time to encouraging women and minorities to pursue degrees and careers in meteorology. 

The Drink:

Dark & Stormy

2 oz rum

3 oz ginger beer

1 lime wedge

Drinkability:  4
Drunkability:  2
Taxic Diversity:  2.5
Accessibility:  4
Priority for Conservation:  4  

Comments:  4 for accessibility due to ginger beer rarity

From weather-y-science-y women hosted by Fluffy Ruffle