A meteorologist from a local Los Angeles station is speaking out after a horrific on-air incident when she collapsed to the ground in the middle of her weather forecast.
A video of the incident was posted to Twitter and has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.
KCAL co-anchors Nichelle Medina and Rachel Kim announced the show’s weather segment on Saturday, pitching it to meteorologist Alissa Carlson Schwartz with promises of a “sunshine-packed” weather report.
Almost immediately after the camera turned to Schwartz, her eyes could be seen rolling to the back of her head before she lost control of her motor functions and fell to her knees on the floor.
The network automatically stopped a commercial break, leaving viewers distraught over what they had just seen.
#WATCH: A terrifying moment happened when a CBS LA meteorologist collapsed live on the air
Terrifying moment shows when a CBS LA meteorologist, Alissa Carlson Schwartz, collapsed on-air Saturday morning while doing a live report from her colleagues… pic.twitter.com/tQ9To9spDo
— RAWSALERTS (@rawsalerts) March 19, 2023
Later that night, KCAL posted an update stating that Schwartz was “resting and recovering” and that the meteorologist “will be fine.”
Schwartz posted on her own social media pages on Sunday, telling followers she had been released from the hospital and was taking time out to sleep and enjoy a pizza.
Alissa Carlson Schwartz via Instagram Stories
On Tuesday, Schwartz sat down with Gayle King on CBS Mornings to share more about her story.
“In the morning I felt fine, it wasn’t until about 15 minutes prior to the incident that I started feeling a little nauseous and at that point I went to the toilet and thought, ‘Okay, I’ll be fine, I’ll get through the hit and I’ll get something to eat,” Schwartz explained, pointing out that she was probably dehydrated from drinking too much coffee.
She then revealed that she suffers from vasovagal syncope, a condition where a person passes out after their body overreacts to certain triggers, and is not a result of a leaky heart valve, which she revealed she was diagnosed with in 2014.
“I will now have to learn how to really recognize the symptoms of this condition,” she told King before urging viewers on her Instagram story to “take care of yourself and your health first and foremost.”
Schwartz is currently on leave from the network.
