Welcome Valerie Abati

Rob Owen features KDKA-TV’s new meteorolgist Valerie Abati (A-bay-tee) who took over the reigns of the early morning weather duties earlier this month. Abati – who is no relation to news anchor Sonni Abatta – grew up in Conneaut Lake PA and has held jobs in Cincinnati OH, Chattanooga TN, Clarksburg WV and WJET in Erie after graduating from Penn State. She holds the AMS seal and is on track to get the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal. (The CBM is held by WPXI’s Mike LaPoint and WTAE’s Don Schwenneker.)

Abati likes to be active and plans on exploring the city as much as possible. She tells Owen, “One of the things I really like about Pittsburgh is its mom and pop shops. In America you can get so used to chains, and this is so different. I like that.”