June Bacon-Bercey

June Esther Bacon-Bercey (née Griffin, October 23, 1928 – July 3, 2019) was an American international expert on weather and aviation who worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service and the Atomic Energy Commission.

She was the first African-American woman to earn a degree in meteorology and was the first female TV meteorologist trained in the field of meteorology in the United States.

Early life and education Bacon-Bercey was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, in 1928. Bacon-Bercey's fascination with weather began after she saw images of the atomic bomb and questioned its impact on the atmosphere. A high school physics teacher is credited for noticing Bacon-Bercey’s interest in water displacement and buoyancy and encouraging her to pursue a career in meteorology. She then attended and earned her bachelor's degree in 1954 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which at that time was one of the few schools in the nation to offer a four-year degree in atmospheric science. Bacon-Bercey became the first African American woman to be conferred a meteorology degree from UCLA.

Bacon-Bercey continued her career as an engineer, when she worked for the Sperry Corporation,

In 1971, she joined WGR-TV as a news reporter, in which role she covered the Attica Prison riot. In 1972, she became the station's on-air meteorologist after the previous meteorologist was arrested for bank robbery.

Increasing the participation of African-American women in meteorology and geophysical science was a major focus for Bacon-Bercey. In 1978, she published an analysis of African-American meteorologists in the US. She had won $64,000 as a contestant on The $128,000 Question in 1977, which she used to establish a scholarship fund for young women interested in atmospheric sciences, administered by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). From 1978-1990, 13 women (12 graduate students, 1 undergraduate student) received $400-$500 of scholarship money from AGU's June Bacon-Bercey Scholarship in Atmospheric Sciences for Women. The Scholarship, which was reestablished in 2021 through support from AGU donors, the family of Bacon-Bercey and AccuWeather, provides $1,000 annually to recognize outstanding accomplishments for a scientist at their career-stage. Since 2021, four women have received the Scholarship.

Bacon-Bercey served on the AGU's Committee on Women and Minorities in Atmospheric Sciences.

Honors Bacon-Bercey was the first woman, as well as the first African-American, to be awarded the American Meteorological Society's Seal of Approval for excellence in television weathercasting when she was working at WGR in Buffalo, New York, in the 1970s. Bacon-Bercey was also named a Minority Pioneer for Achievement in Atmospheric Sciences by NASA. Her death was announced six months later.