Vera Jimenez has been KTLA 5’s evening meteorologist in Los Angeles since January 2010. She was born in Michoacán, Mexico, raised in Garden Grove, and got into TV through radio traffic reports. This page separates what’s documented from what bio sites just repeat.
Quick answer
- Who: KTLA 5 meteorologist, on the 6, 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m. weeknight newscasts per KTLA’s bio.
- At KTLA since: January 25, 2010.
- Age: Reportedly about 60, from an unconfirmed December 5, 1965 birth date (unverified).
- Born: Michoacán, Mexico; raised in Garden Grove, California.
- Net worth and salary: Not public. Online figures are estimates.
- Note: “Estimated” and “unverified” below mean not confirmed by Jimenez, KTLA, or a filing.
Who is Vera Jimenez?
She’s a certified broadcast meteorologist who forecasts for Southern California evening viewers. Her route is unusual. She started in radio traffic, moved to TV as a traffic reporter, and studied meteorology while already working.
How old is Vera Jimenez?
Probably around 60, though nobody has published a primary source. Several bio sites say December 5, 1965. Others say January 1, 1970 or November 1, 1974. The 1965 date is the most repeated, but those sites mostly copy each other.
One clue favors the older date. A 2022 press release (paid distribution, unverified) says her media career began in 1997. That sits more comfortably with 1965 than 1974, but it’s inference, not proof. We’d write “about 60” and leave it there.
Early life, family and nationality
A 2010 hiring announcement says she was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and moved to Southern California at three. She grew up in Garden Grove. In a 2022 KTLA series she named Mitchell Elementary, then Irvine, then Bolsa Grande High. She ran cross-country, played soccer, wrote for the school paper, and says the neighborhood was multicultural. Her mother still lived in the family home then.
She’s usually described as American or Mexican-American. One aggregator calls her the youngest of five children (unverified).
Education
- Bolsa Grande High School, Garden Grove
- Santa Ana College, where she first got into broadcasting
- Cal State Long Beach, graduating with honors in religious studies
- Mississippi State University, meteorology certificate, August 2009, earned while at KCBS-TV (a press release says 2010, unverified)
A religious studies degree and a weather career look mismatched. In TV they aren’t unusual, since many forecasters add meteorology credentials through certificate programs while working.
Career: radio traffic to KTLA
| Stage | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Radio | KIK-FM (intern), Shadow Broadcasting, KFWB-AM, KNX-AM | Traffic producing, overnight fill-in, airborne traffic |
| TV | KABC-TV | About two years |
| TV | KCBS-TV | About six years |
| TV | KTLA 5 | From January 25, 2010 |
KTLA’s bio calls her airborne work at KNX the best early lesson. The 2010 announcement credited her with eight years of traffic reporting at KABC and KCBS. KTLA’s then-general manager Don Corsini said he’d known her since KABC, and she joined anchors Micah Ohlman and Victoria Recano on the 6 and 6:30 newscasts, with 10 p.m. weather. She said she’d watched KTLA News her whole life.
You’ll see “joined KTLA in January 2020” copied around. It’s wrong. It looks like a typo for 2010, and a May 2022 interview describes her as twelve years in.
On air and in the kitchen
Meteorologist or weather anchor? KTLA announced her in 2010 as a weather and traffic anchor. Today it uses meteorologist, the more precise word given her credential. Viewers use both.
She’s also behind Cooking With Vera, a recurring KTLA segment with recipes on her author page: green rice, citrus arugula orecchiette, strawberry bread, cauliflower buffalo bites. Some come from viewers. The cherry junk cake came from a viewer in Rochester, New York, and a brown paper bag apple pie aired on KTLA 5 News at 3 on December 14, 2018. Viewers whose recipes were chosen could get an apron.
The headline advice from a May 2022 interview: don’t take things personally, and don’t attach yourself to praise or criticism.
Awards and Emmys
KTLA’s bio lists two Emmys, three Golden Mikes and three Golden Pylons. The January 2010 hiring release lists identical numbers, so KTLA’s page looks untouched for over a decade.
| Honor | KTLA bio / 2010 release | Dec 2022 press release |
|---|---|---|
| Emmys | 2 | 4 (unverified) |
| Golden Mikes | 3 | 5 (unverified) |
| Golden Pylons | 3 | Not listed |
The larger 2022 counts are plausible, not proven. A 2022 interview calls her Emmy-winning without a number, so “at least two Emmys” is the safe phrasing. She’s also received the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Impact Award, which she dedicated to her mother.
Husband, children and personal life
She’s married. A recipe note on KTLA’s site mentions her husband. Aggregators name him as Brian Herlihy (unverified, no primary source). No children are publicly known (unverified).
Publicly she talks about fitness, food and faith. A KTLA piece says she’s passionate about fitness, and her Facebook bio lists weather, food, fitness and faith.
Charity work and the restaurant
A May 2022 interview describes her as a board member of the Boys and Girls Club of the LA Harbor and a long-time Rotary member. A local paper describes her as owner of Hermosa Fish Shop in Hermosa Beach, which won several Best of the Beach 2018 categories. A Foursquare listing marks it closed, undated (unverified), so check before saying she still runs it.
Ignore pages about a “La Casa” restaurant tied to her name. They read as auto-generated and cite nothing.
Net worth and salary
No verified figure exists. Aggregators estimate $1 million to $5 million, with narrower guesses of $1.5 million and $1 million to $2.5 million (all estimated). Salary guesses range from about $20,000 to $120,000 (estimated). One site’s “average” of about $79,655 looks like generic job-board data, not hers.
TV pay isn’t disclosed, and the low end of those ranges looks too low for a senior forecaster in the Los Angeles market. That’s our judgment, not a fact.
Why the sources disagree
Three things cause most of the mess: sites copying each other, official pages that stopped updating (KTLA’s award counts), and typos that spread (2020 for 2010). A quick test for any bio site: does it name a source for the figure, and does it match KTLA or a dated news item? If not, it’s a guess.
Vera Jimenez in 2026
KTLA posted her forecast on February 25, 2026. Whether she’s still on air in October 2026 is (unverified), as we found nothing newer. Check KTLA’s lineup.
Key facts
| Name | Vera Jimenez (one press release shows “Vera T. Jimenez,” unverified) |
| Job | Meteorologist, KTLA 5, Los Angeles |
| Joined KTLA | January 25, 2010 |
| Born | Michoacán, Mexico |
| Education | Bolsa Grande HS; Santa Ana College; Cal State Long Beach; Mississippi State certificate |
| Awards | At least 2 Emmys, 3 Golden Mikes, 3 Golden Pylons |
FAQs
What is Vera Jimenez’s real name?
We found no evidence of a different name. She appears as Vera Jimenez, and once as “Vera T. Jimenez” in a press release (unverified).
How tall is she?
Aggregators say about 5 feet 7 inches (unverified).
Is she a real meteorologist?
Yes, she holds a Mississippi State broadcast meteorology certificate.
Is Vera Jimenez Mexican?
She was born in Mexico and raised in California, and is often called Mexican-American.
Is Cooking With Vera real?
Yes, a recurring KTLA segment with recipes on her author page.
Where can I watch her forecasts?
On KTLA 5 News and ktla.com.
Conclusion
Vera Jimenez’s verified story is Garden Grove, radio traffic, KABC, KCBS, and KTLA since January 2010. The soft spots are exact age, award totals after 2010, her husband’s name and money, which are estimates or unverified. Confirm with KTLA before quoting them.
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Shahzad is the founder and lead writer at WorthRada. He writes about celebrity net worth, biographies, careers, income, and success stories, with a focus on providing clear, well-researched, and reliable information.
