Tammie Souza says wearing a pair of pink shorts on her last day at WFLD in Chicago was all in jest.

Souza, headed to WTSP, Channel 10, to be the chief meteorologist, says people who see just a picture of her from the farewell show last week might get the wrong idea.

“I am a serious meteorologist but this is a morning show where we’re like family and we do a lot of light-hearted things,” she said in a phone chat today.  There was a two-day goodbye during which she was given some gag gifts. One was a pair of Chicago White Sox shorts that are popular with the team’s fans.

“We were all sad and crying and laughing at crazy things,” she says. “The anchors gave me those shorts plus a Bears T-shirt and a Cubs’ hat as souvenirs. It was meant lift us from all the teary goodbyes.”

“On a dare, I put on the shorts and we all made fun of how silly it looked,” she says. “I felt like a bad version of Mariah Carey throwing out the first pitch. It’s not my typical weather garb and it was not meant to be anything more than a joke.”

Souza, who will be the first female chief meteorologist in the Tampa-St. Petersburg TV market, joins WTSP, Channel 10, on Oct. 27.

A picture has surfaced on the Internet of her in pink shorts that last day. It’s on the TV Anchor Babes website, home to the lecherous male news viewer.

“This whole thing is being blown out of proportion and taken out of context,” says WTSP spokesman Pete Nikiel.

The White Sox, like the Rays, are in the Major League playoffs. Nikiel says that in the spirit of the celebration she put them on. “She is a fun person,” he says. “But she also is a serious meteorologist with strong credentials.”

Now there is concern that Tampa-St Pete viewers might get the wrong impression.

“People may get the wrong impression but it doesn’t reflect the true me, except that I have sense of humor,” she says.