Women's History Month: How Kathie Dello became North Carolina's first female state climatologist

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — While there has been an increase over the past decade of women working in STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math, women’s employment is still very low. Only about 26% of the STEM workforce is women. 

However, there are many women in North Carolina who are shattering those stereotypes. 

One of them is Kathie Dello, the former state climatologist for North Carolina, who now holds the role of Assistant Secretary for Resilience at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. 

She holds a doctorate in Environmental Sciences from Oregon State University, a Master’s in Geography and a Bachelor’s in Atmospheric Sciences from the State University in New York at Albany. 

While the N.C. Climate Office was established in 1976, it wasn’t until Dello ran in 2019 that a woman was elected for the position. 

“When I was a little girl, I was in nursery school and we learned that day that the earth rotated but you couldn’t see it or feel it,” Dello said. “We went outside for recess, and I looked up at the church steeple, and I saw the clouds moving. I ran over and told my teacher and said, ‘Oh my goodness, you’re wrong, the Earth is moving and I see it!’ And she told me it was the clouds.”

Before coming to North Carolina, she was spearheading climate adaptation in her home state of New York. 

After completing her doctorate program, she returned to North Carolina. She said she chose to stay in Raleigh when she witnessed a lot of discussions around climate change and sustainability. 

She was in office during Hurricane Helene and helped with disaster response, gathering data and telling the stories from the people of western North Carolina.

She hopes that her experience inspires other women and girls to pursue STEM careers. 

“We don’t always think of these as women’s fields, but they are. They’re fields for everybody,” Dello said.