(A memoir in which Zee discusses her career covering sever...)
A memoir in which Zee discusses her career covering severe weather alongside depression, personal struggles, and the process of facing difficulties openly.
(The second Chasing Helicity novel continues Helicity’s we...)
The second Chasing Helicity novel continues Helicity’s weather-centered adventures and presents severe storms as both scientific and personal challenges.
Ginger Zee is an American meteorologist, television personality, author, and science communicator. She became Abc News’s chief meteorologist after reporting for Good Morning America Weekend and now presents weather and climate coverage across Abc News platforms. She has also written memoirs and a STEM-oriented trilogy for young readers.
Background
Ginger Zee was born Ginger Renee Zuidgeest on January 13, 1981, in Orange, California, to Dawn E. Zuidgeest-Craft and Robert O. Zuidgeest. Her family moved to Michigan during her early childhood, and she grew up in the western part of the state. Her paternal grandparents, Adriaan Cornelis Zuidgeest and Hillegonda Zuidgeest, immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands.
Zee has described seeing a waterspout on Lake Michigan when she was eight as an early influence on her interest in atmospheric science. The Great Lakes region, with its changing weather systems and severe-storm environment, became the geographic setting for her early fascination with meteorology and later broadcast career.
Education
Zee graduated from Rockford High School in Rockford, Michigan, in 1999. She then attended Valparaiso University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology and studying mathematics and Spanish alongside her atmospheric-science training. Valparaiso’s meteorology program combines atmospheric science with preparation for professional applications, including broadcast meteorology, a field in which several of its graduates have worked.
From 2008 to 2011, Zee also served as an adjunct professor at Valparaiso University while developing her broadcast career. Her university education and teaching role connected formal meteorological training with the public communication of weather science.
Zee began her media career at Wyin, a PBS station serving Merrillville and northwest Indiana, and at Wlav-FM and Wxmi in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She also interned at Wbma-LD Abc 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama, working in the professional environment associated with chief meteorologist James Spann. These early assignments gave her experience in local broadcast meteorology and severe-weather reporting.
From 2003 to 2005, Zee worked at Weyi-NBC 25 in Flint, Michigan. She then joined Wood-TV in Grand Rapids, where she became part of Storm Team 8 and reported on weather, environmental issues, and science affecting western Michigan. Wood-TV is a long-established local television station serving the Grand Rapids market, while Weyi operates within the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City broadcast region.
From 2006 to 2011, Zee was a meteorologist at Wmaq-TV, NBC’s Chicago station. During that period she also filled in on NBC and MSNBC programs, including the weekend edition of The Today Show, fulfilling the career goal she had set at high-school graduation. Chicago’s large broadcast market gave her a national-platform experience before her move to Abc News.
Zee joined Abc News in 2011 as the meteorologist for Good Morning America Weekend and reached a national audience through weather coverage on the program and other Abc broadcasts. In December 2013, Abc News announced her appointment as chief meteorologist for Good Morning America and weather editor for Abc News, succeeding Sam Champion. She has since reported from hurricanes, tornado outbreaks, floods, wildfires, blizzards, and other major natural disasters while appearing across Good Morning America, Abc World News Tonight, Nightline, Abc News Live, and related digital programming.
At Abc News, Zee has also developed climate-focused reporting and hosted the digital series Food Forecast, which examined climate and sustainability issues affecting agriculture. She has presented climate specials and reported on topics including coral bleaching, drought, sea-level rise, and climate solutions. Her broader television work has included co-hosting Hearts of Heroes, starring with Ben Aaron in Renovation Realities: Ben & Ginger, and voicing Dr. Zephyr Skye in Disney Junior’s Miles from Tomorrowland.
Zee has reported from and around major hurricanes, tornado outbreaks, floods, wildfires, blizzards, and other natural disasters for a national television audience, including coverage of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Michael.
She created and hosted Food Forecast, an ABC News digital series connecting climate change, sustainability, agriculture, and food production.
She has used broadcast meteorology, climate reporting, children’s fiction, and public advocacy to encourage young people’s interest in atmospheric science and other STEM fields.
(The second Chasing Helicity novel continues Helicity’s we...)
2019
Views
Zee’s public work emphasizes the value of communicating science clearly and relating atmospheric events to the people affected by them. Her writing and mental-health advocacy stress openness, self-forgiveness, resilience, and the idea that difficult periods can change rather than permanently define a person.
Quotations:
“Storms don’t last forever, they can’t and won’t. It’s not how the atmosphere works and it’s not how life works.”
Membership
Zee holds the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal of the American Meteorological Society, a professional certification recognizing expertise in broadcast meteorology and ethical communication of weather information.
Holds the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal.
American Meteorological Society
,
United States
Personality
Zee has presented herself publicly as candid about mental-health struggles and committed to connecting scientific information with the human experiences associated with severe weather and climate change.
Interests
Storm chasing, climate communication, mental-health advocacy, fitness, adventure activities, and encouraging young people to pursue science.
Connections
Zee married television personality Ben Aaron in 2014. They have two sons, Adrian and Miles. Her younger brother is Sean Jeffrey Zuidgeest; her parents are Dawn E. Zuidgeest-Craft and Robert O. Zuidgeest.
Father:
Robert O. Zuidgeest
Mother:
Dawn E. Zuidgeest-Craft
husband:
Ben Aaron
Television personality and co-star with Zee in Renovation Realities: Ben & Ginger.
ABC News Press: Ginger Zee Biography
Provides an institutional biography covering Zee’s position as chief meteorologist and climate-unit leader, prior television work, disaster reporting, programs, books, and Valparaiso University education.
Ginger Zee Official Website: About
Describes Zee’s meteorology career, storm chasing, climate interests, books, mental-health advocacy, certification, teaching, family, and professional aims.
Penguin Random House: Chasing Helicity
Documents the first Chasing Helicity book, its publication by Disney Hyperion, publication date, age range, format, and authorship by Ginger Zee.
