Vera Jimenez lights up a room the way she lights up the set—with energy, warmth, and electricity. The longtime KTLA meteorologist forecasts Southern California weather, but off camera, she embraces challenges, invests time in her community, and moves through life with grace.
The youngest of six children, Vera learned early what strength looks like. Her father passed away when she was 3, so she saw it in her mother —a woman who wore steel-toed boots at her factory job, built muscle through manual labor, and didn’t retire until she was 73. “My mom was a very active woman. She didn't sit, and I have that same trait,” Vera said. Those lessons shaped how Vera approaches challenges, both personal and professional.
In her final years, her mother's rare genetic condition led to a series of health hurdles. Once fiercely independent, she grew frustrated as her mobility declined. "It was bittersweet," Vera said. "She's like, 'I'm done. I don't want to do this anymore.'" She often expressed fear of being alone, and Vera reassured her, "One of us is always here."
When the moment came, Vera lay beside her mom, offering comfort and keeping that promise. Vera chose to keep her mother's passing in August 2024 private. "I didn't make it public. I didn't let people know," she shared.
Perhaps it’s awareness of life’s fragility that fuels the way Vera lives now—intentionally, actively, and in service to others. Since 2010, Redondo Beach has been home. She moved here shortly after starting at KTLA, relocating from Eagle Rock to be closer to her now-husband, Brian Herlihy. “I do love it,” she said. “I love that it's a very active community.”
Vera has embraced the South Bay—hiking five miles through Palos Verdes with women from Rotary, taking family walks with her husband and dog Rufus, volunteering for Meals on Wheels, serving on the LA Harbor Boys & Girls Club board, and supporting Maria’s Closet in San Pedro, which provides prom dresses to girls in need. For her, community is about connecting across groups, not just giving.
At 53, Vera is learning to be more selective. “My husband always says, I'm a mile wide and an inch deep. And now I'm trying to become an inch wide and a mile deep,” she said. “There are so many worthy causes that you want to be able to be there for all of them, but you can't… I'm learning how to say no.” This intentionality also applies to personal goals.
As she approached 50, Vera set a milestone challenge for herself: learn to swim—and swim pier to pier. “I'm not built to be a swimmer,” she admitted. The goal took a year. “It was getting in the water when I didn't want to get in the water, despite the fact that I was going to have goggle eyes, and I was going to look horrible on TV,” she recalled. In the end, she swam from the Redondo Beach breakwall to the Manhattan Beach Pier in two hours. “I'm a slow swimmer, but I did it.”
Why push herself like that? “When you do things that you don't believe that you can do… it raises your self esteem,” she said. “It also reminds me to stay humble. I have self-esteem issues, just like everybody else,” she admitted. “Doing hard things reminds me who I am.”
Humility is a recurring theme. On social media, Vera posts without filters, often without makeup. “I want young girls to see that social media isn't reality,” she said. “Everybody doesn't wake up beautiful… This is the reality of what my life is.” She does her own hair, makeup, and wardrobe for TV appearances. She recently made a small concession to get Botox. “I get minimal so that I can still move my face.” The message, she emphasizes, is choice. “They don't have to if they don't want to.”
Her real focus isn’t appearance—it’s longevity. “I go to the gym… because I want to be able to move when I'm 85,” she said. “I call it aging gracefully.”
Faith also plays a central role. A religious studies major, Vera is currently writing a prayer journal. “I found that sometimes the prayers that I read in my little Catholic prayer book… I didn't connect to,” she explained. So she began writing her own—short, scripture-rooted prayers grounded in real emotion: gratitude, anger, grief, jealousy. “I don't use haughty language. I use very colloquial words that I think people connect to.” She hopes to publish it by year’s end.
When asked what advice she’d give young women, Vera doesn’t hesitate. “Life is hard, attack it. It's the only way we grow. Win or lose, dance your heart out! You're odd. We all are. Why be a window when you can be stained glass?”
Vera Jimenez isn’t just forecasting the weather. She’s modeling what it looks like to live intentionally, actively, and with resilience—moving forward through loss, challenges, and life’s ups and downs, with humility, faith, and grace—knowing that even when the skies are uncertain, there is always sunshine waiting on the other side.