You may have already seen it by now — the cheap Amazon dress that has "gone viral" among TV meteorologists. The dress, which is sold on Amazon, was shared in a private Facebook group for females in the business and soon became a favourite among the women that deliver your weather every day.

There are a lot of women meteorologists who own the dress, now collaged in Reddit fame.

The dress is pretty great. The cut is super-flattering to most - if not all - figures, and the colours are many. Tack on to that a US$23 price point and you have a winner. So it's no surprise that when this dress was shared in the Facebook group for female on-camera meteorologists, they snatched it right up.

There's an exception to this for a small percentage of meteorologists in the highest markets - mainly places like New York City and Los Angeles. But there are even meteorologists in Washington, DC, who do not get wardrobe stipends. It's something that's typically negotiated in contracts, which means there are winners and there are losers.

Thus, cheap is a must, especially since you also can't wear the same five dresses every week. Viewers notice.



*This statistic is less based on measurable fact and more based on the author's personal observations and experience.

It's plain. One of the first thing women are told when they enter a career in television is to stay away from patterns. Florals, plaids, houndstooth — gorgeous in-person but terrible on TV. The effect is even worse when the clothing in question stands in front of colourful weather maps.

You probably already know that a TV meteorologist's clothing cannot be green because they would disappear into the chroma key weather maps. But chroma keys don't have to be green, necessarily. Technically, they can be any colour, but green is used most frequently, followed by blue. Sure, cutting out green from your wardrobe might seem like no big deal, but blue? There's a lot of blue out there! It tends to flatter everyone.

And it's not just solid green or blue that needs to stay in the closet — it's every pattern or hue that has a touch of that colour, which means a lot of clothing gets an immediate veto.

It's tried and true. Imagine having to create a daily wardrobe that will not offend, provoke comment or clash with TV technology. It's a lot to ask, which is why many women turn to their counterparts — competition, even — for advice.

It may have come as a surprise that a group of female TV meteorologists formed a Facebook group that could help and support other women in the business, but it was bound to happen.

Meteorology is a small field. Even smaller when you narrow it to women in media. The great part about this group is that it encompasses women across the entire spectrum of markets - from tiny to mega - and the most senior of these women have been through it all. There's a lot of advice to be had, and not just about fashion.

And if there's an inexpensive, flattering dress that other women in the business have had success with, of course it's going to "go viral". With the day-to-day restrictions that female meteorologists face, it's no wonder.