WJLA Washington Names Veronica Johnson Its First Woman Chief Meteorologist

WJLA chief meteorologist Veronica Johnson
Veronica Johnson (Image credit: WJLA)

WJLA Washington, the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned ABC affiliate in the nation’s capital, has named Veronica Johnson as its new chief meteorologist, the first woman to hold the post in the station’s 75 years on the air.

Johnson has been WJLA's lead morning meteorologist since 2016 and has been reporting on the weather for over three decades.

Her resume includes stints at The Weather Channel and ABC-owned WABC New York, as well as E.W. Scripps’s WMAR Baltimore and NBC-owned WRC Washington.

She was also the meteorologist on the initial newscast for Sinclair’s WBFF Baltimore in 1991.

She is the past chair of the American Meteorological Society’s Board of Enterprise Communications and participated in then-Sen. Barack Obama’s Task Force on Climate Change in 2007.

The station has also promoted meteorologist Eileen Whelan to morning news meteorologist. She has been with the station since 2011. Whelan will continue to co-host lifestyle show Good Morning Washington. ▪️

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.