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Jill Szwed (American Broadcast Meteorologist)
Jill Elizabeth Szwed is an American broadcast meteorologist and weather anchor whose professional career encompasses roles across four television markets in West Virginia, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania. Born on September 24, 1991, in Butler, Pennsylvania, Jill Szwed graduated from Saint Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania in 2010 before enrolling at Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, Missouri. In 2014, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology with a minor in Communications. During her university years, she completed internships at two Pittsburgh-area television stations before graduation. The American Meteorological Society awarded her the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal, designated CBM #814.
Jill Szwed launched her broadcast career at WDTV-TV in Clarksburg, West Virginia in June 2014, beginning as a weekend meteorologist before a promotion to the morning and noon forecasting position in November 2014. She also held traffic anchor duties at the station. During her West Virginia tenure, Szwed and the WDTV 5 News Daybreak team received the “Best AM Newscast” recognition from the West Virginia Broadcasters Association. Her WDTV coverage encompassed a 26-inch snowstorm, multiple tornado events, and flash flooding episodes across the Mountain State.
In May 2016, Szwed transitioned to WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, where she held the weekend meteorologist position for four years. Her Kentucky assignments included live broadcasts from the Kentucky Derby — one of which took place during the wettest Derby on record — along with coverage from Keeneland and a PGA Tour tournament. She tracked tornado outbreaks, flooding events, and severe storm systems across the Bluegrass State throughout this period.
In June 2020, Szwed joined WTEN and WXXA in Albany, New York as the weekday morning meteorologist. Her Albany tenure extended through January 26, 2024, and covered Northeastern weather patterns including nor’easters, lake-effect snow systems, and sharp temperature variations. She developed STEM-focused on-air content during this period, directed toward audiences interested in science and technology career pathways.
Jill Szwed established her Pittsburgh broadcast base at WTAE-TV in February 2024, where her role encompasses weekend morning weather forecasts and weekday science reporting segments. In December 2024, she made a walk-on appearance in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s production of The Nutcracker at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh. Her ten-year broadcast career across four stations reached its milestone anniversary in June 2024.
| Full Name | Jill Elizabeth Szwed |
| Date of Birth | September 24, 1991 |
| Place of Birth | Butler, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | White-American |
| Zodiac Sign | Libra |
| Profession | Broadcast Meteorologist, Weather Anchor, STEM Advocate |
| Employer | WTAE-TV (Hearst Television), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Education | B.S. Meteorology, minor in Communications — Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri (2014); Saint Joseph High School, Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania (2010) |
| Certification | AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist — CBM #814 (American Meteorological Society) |
| Career Start | WDTV-TV, Clarksburg, West Virginia — Weekend Meteorologist (June 2014) |
| Current Role | Weekend Morning Meteorologist and Weekday Fill-In — WTAE-TV Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 (February 2024 onward) |
| Notable Coverage | 1998 Pittsburgh tornado (formative); Kentucky Derby live coverage (including wettest Derby on record); PGA Tour broadcast; Pittsburgh record-breaking tornado activity (May 2025); Western Pennsylvania sub-zero wind chill events (January 2026) |
| Awards | West Virginia Broadcasters Association “Best AM Newscast” — WDTV 5 News Daybreak Team |
| Marital Status | Not publicly disclosed |
| Children | None known publicly |
| Siblings | One younger sister (residence: Wexford, Pennsylvania) |
| Parents | Reside in Butler, Pennsylvania (father retired June 2023) |
| Height | 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) |
| Hair Color | Blonde |
| Eye Color | Blue |
| Estimated Salary | $75,000 – $115,000 annually (industry estimate; not officially confirmed) |
| Estimated Net Worth | $300,000 – $1 million (industry estimate; not officially confirmed) |
| Residence | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States |
Who is Jill Szwed ?
Jill Szwed is an American broadcast meteorologist whose career encompasses four television markets across West Virginia, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania. Born September 24, 1991, in Butler, PA, she holds an AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist seal (CBM #814), with her broadcast base at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh established in February 2024.
Early Life and Education
Butler, Pennsylvania — a borough located north of Pittsburgh in Butler County — formed the geographic foundation of Jill Elizabeth Szwed’s upbringing. Her date of birth, September 24, 1991, placed her childhood within a Western Pennsylvania community characterized by its proximity to the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
Her immediate family maintained residence in Butler throughout her childhood and into her adult years. Her parents kept their home in Butler, while her younger sister relocated to Wexford, Pennsylvania. Szwed identified her sister as her best friend, and the two maintained a documented connection through public posts. In October 2024, Jill Szwed published a photograph with the caption “Szwed sisters birthday week is the best week,” a reference to the closeness of their respective birthdays within the same calendar week. Her extended family included grandparents who held residence in Butler and Scottdale, Pennsylvania. In June 2023, her father reached retirement — a milestone she acknowledged through a public post dated June 14, 2023.
The household placed consistent emphasis on news consumption across television and media, a pattern that shaped her academic direction toward both meteorology and communications. The family kept a dog named Chesney, who displayed a fear of thunderstorms. During storm events, young Jill Szwed took on the role of companion to the dog — a biographical detail she referenced in public accounts of her early life.
Her involvement in dance began at age 4, with ballet developing into her preferred discipline through childhood and her teenage years. Jill Szwed applied the self-descriptor “yinzer” — a colloquial Pittsburgh-area term denoting strong regional identity — to her own background, and she maintained documented support for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Pittsburgh Penguins across her lifetime.
What Sparked Her Interest in Meteorology
Jill Szwed introduction to meteorology as a field of study originated in a sixth-grade science class, where coursework on weather systems generated her initial academic interest in atmospheric science. That interest deepened through direct exposure to severe weather activity across the greater Pittsburgh region during her middle school years.
Three categories of weather events contributed to this deepening. Heavy snowstorms across Western Pennsylvania formed a recurring part of her regional experience. Significant flooding events in and around the Pittsburgh area added to her direct exposure. The weather event that carried the greatest documented weight took place in 1998, when a tornado touched down in the Mount Washington neighborhood and traveled into the downtown Pittsburgh area. Szwed’s geographic proximity to this tornado during her middle school years held a documented position in her biographical accounts as a key moment in her academic focus shift toward meteorology.
People within her immediate circle — both family members and personal acquaintances — recognized her interest in weather from an early age. That recognition appeared in biographical materials she contributed to during her broadcast career. Her focus on atmospheric science remained consistent through her high school years without documented redirection, and it carried directly into her formal academic pursuit at the university level.
Education and Academic Training
In 2010, Szwed completed her secondary education at Saint Joseph High School, a private Catholic institution located in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County. That same year, she enrolled at Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, Missouri, to concentrate her studies in atmospheric science.
Saint Louis University — whose athletic teams carry the name Billikens — housed the meteorology program through which Szwed pursued her degree. She maintained a secondary academic focus in communications alongside her primary meteorology coursework. Her degree program at Saint Louis University concluded in 2014, at which point the university conferred upon her a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology with a minor in Communications. Throughout the four years of her undergraduate enrollment, she continued ballet classes in parallel with her academic schedule, maintaining the dance involvement she had carried from childhood.
Her time at Saint Louis University also included two practical internships at Pittsburgh-area broadcast stations. One internship placed her under the direct supervision of meteorologist Jeff Verszyla at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. A second internship ran under meteorologist Stephen Cropper at WPXI-TV, also in Pittsburgh. Both Verszyla and Cropper held positions at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh when Szwed joined that station in February 2024, a circumstance that made each of them both a former academic-era mentor and a professional colleague within the same weather team.
Jill Szwed held membership in the American Meteorological Society beginning in her student years at Saint Louis University. The AMS subsequently awarded her the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist credential, assigning her the individual designation CBM #814. The receipt of this certification became public through an announcement she made during active winter storm preparation — a detail she included in the announcement itself.
Career — From Chico to Philadelphia
Jill Szwed professional broadcast career launched in June 2014, directly following the completion of her degree at Saint Louis University. Her first station assignment placed her at WDTV-TV in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where she joined the weather team in the weekend meteorologist capacity.
In November 2014, the station elevated her to the morning and noon meteorologist position. That role carried the additional responsibility of traffic anchor duties, placing her in front of the camera across multiple daily segments. Her forecasting workload at WDTV covered the full range of weather conditions the Mountain State produced across four calendar seasons — among them a 26-inch snowstorm, multiple tornado events, and flash flooding episodes that required live on-air emergency coverage.
The WDTV 5 News Daybreak team, which included Jill Szwed , received the “Best AM Newscast” designation from the West Virginia Broadcasters Association during her tenure at the station. This recognition applied to the team’s collective morning broadcast output. Szwed’s time at WDTV extended approximately two years before she transitioned to a larger television market.
Growth at WLEX-TV (LEX 18) — Lexington, Kentucky (2016–2020)
In May 2016, Jill Szwed joined WLEX-TV — operating under the on-air brand LEX 18 — in Lexington, Kentucky, in the weekend meteorologist role. Her Kentucky assignment extended across four years and encompassed a broad range of atmospheric conditions, including tornadoes, severe thunderstorm systems, snow and ice events, and flooding across the Bluegrass State.
Several live broadcast assignments during her Lexington years placed her outside the standard studio forecast format. She delivered live coverage from the Kentucky Derby — one edition of which held the documented record as the wettest Derby on record — requiring outdoor live television delivery through sustained rainfall. Additional live assignments took her to Keeneland, the horse racing venue in Lexington, and to a PGA Tour tournament. Her station biography during this period, published through LEX 18’s on-air team pages, referenced both her West Virginia Broadcasters Association team award and her Pittsburgh-area origins.
During her four years in Lexington, Jill Szwed enrolled in classes at Lexington Ballet, resuming the dance practice she had maintained from childhood through her university years. Her participation in those classes ran alongside her broadcast schedule at WLEX-TV.
Morning Meteorologist in Albany, New York — WTEN/WXXA (2020–2024)
In June 2020, Jill Szwed accepted the weekday morning meteorologist position at WTEN-TV and WXXA-TV in Albany, New York. Her appointment placed her in the role previously held by Jess Briganti. The Albany assignment represented her longest consecutive tenure at a single station up to that point, extending across three years and seven months through January 26, 2024.
Her forecasting responsibilities in Albany covered weather patterns characteristic of the Northeastern United States — nor’easters, lake-effect snow systems, and prolonged periods of sub-freezing temperatures with sharp temperature transitions between weather events. The morning time slot required daily early-hour live forecasting that built a consistent viewer relationship with Capital Region households across multiple years.
The Albany period also marked an expansion of Szwed’s work beyond weather forecasting. She developed and delivered STEM-oriented content directed at students, with particular focus on encouraging girls to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. This outreach work included school visits and on-air segments.
Jill Szwed announced her departure from WTEN in January 2024. Her final broadcast day at the Albany station fell on January 26, 2024. The station and its viewer base acknowledged the conclusion of her tenure through on-air and public expressions at the time of her departure.
Return to Pittsburgh — WTAE-TV (2024–Present)
The announcement of Szwed’s move to WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh came in January 2024. In a phone interview conducted at the time of the announcement, she stated: “In this industry, you always hope that someday home will call and offer you a job.” Her on-air work at WTAE-TV began during the week of February 5, 2024.
Her role at WTAE-TV — the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh owned by Hearst Television — encompassed weekend morning weather forecasts, weekday fill-in coverage, and weekday STEM reporting segments. The weather team at WTAE-TV included meteorologists Jeff Verszyla, Stephen Cropper, Mike Harvey, Ashley Dougherty, and Brian Hutton Jr. Verszyla and Cropper each held a prior connection to Szwed’s career: she had completed internships under both of them at Pittsburgh stations during her Saint Louis University enrollment — Verszyla at KDKA-TV and Cropper at WPXI-TV — before either became her professional colleague at WTAE-TV.
In June 2024, Jill Szwed broadcast career reached its ten-year milestone. The milestone spanned four stations across four states — West Virginia, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania — and she referenced it publicly through the phrase “10 years, 4 stations, 1 dream.”
In May 2025, her Pittsburgh coverage encompassed tornado activity recorded as breaking historical benchmarks for the region. In January 2026, her forecast assignments included sub-zero wind chill events affecting Western Pennsylvania — among the lowest temperature readings of that cold season.
Major Achievements and Professional Recognition
Jill Szwed’s professional record includes formal recognition across several categories spanning her decade-long broadcast career. The American Meteorological Society awarded her the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist credential, assigned the individual designation CBM #814.
This certification requires candidates to meet defined educational thresholds, complete a comprehensive examination process, and demonstrate documented broadcast competency. The credential separates AMS-certified meteorologists from weather presenters who lack formal atmospheric science degrees.
The West Virginia Broadcasters Association’s “Best AM Newscast” award went to the WDTV 5 News Daybreak team during Szwed’s West Virginia tenure. That award recognized the collective output of the morning newscast team at WDTV-TV in Clarksburg.
In June 2024, Szwed’s career reached the ten-year mark across four stations — WDTV-TV in West Virginia, WLEX-TV in Kentucky, WTEN/WXXA in New York, and WTAE-TV in Pennsylvania.
On December 22, 2024, Jill Szwed appeared as a celebrity guest in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s annual production of The Nutcracker at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh. The appearance placed her in a walk-on role during the prologue and the Party Scene of Act I of the production.
Her STEM advocacy work extended to participation in Dress for STEM Day — an observance in which she wore purple on air — and to direct school visits where she addressed student audiences about pathways into science and technology careers, with documented focus on increasing representation of girls in those fields.
Her live broadcast record encompassed the Kentucky Derby (including the documented wettest edition on record), Keeneland horse racing events, and a PGA Tour tournament — all completed during her four-year assignment at WLEX-TV in Lexington.
Net Worth and Salary
WTAE-TV, the Hearst Television-owned ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, does not publish compensation figures for its broadcast staff. No verified salary disclosure appears in any public record connected to Szwed’s employment at the station.
These figures are estimates based on publicly available third-party information and have not been confirmed by Jill Szwed or NBC10 Philadelphia.
Industry compensation data for AMS-certified broadcast meteorologists who hold multi-market experience at the level of a major American television market places estimated annual earnings in the range of $75,000 to $115,000. Szwed’s professional record encompasses the AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation CBM #814, broadcast assignments across four television markets spanning West Virginia, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania, and a career duration that crossed the ten-year mark in June 2024. These factors, taken together, position her compensation profile toward the upper range of broadcast meteorologist salary bands documented in industry compensation surveys.
Her income sources extend beyond base station salary. Public appearance engagements, STEM-focused speaking assignments at schools and community organizations, and participation in science advocacy events represent additional documented channels through which broadcast meteorologists at her career level generate supplementary income.
Net Worth Estimate
No financial disclosure, tax filing, or verified wealth declaration from Jill Szwed appears in any public record. The figures circulated across biographical reference sources vary across a wide range and carry no independent verification.
Her accumulated financial profile draws from approximately ten years of consecutive broadcast contracts across four television markets — WDTV-TV in Clarksburg, West Virginia; WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky; WTEN-TV and WXXA-TV in Albany, New York; and WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Each posting represented a multi-year contractual engagement at a regional television station.
Based on career duration, market classification, and documented certification level, industry observers have placed estimated net worth figures in a range between $300,000 and $1 million. Separate sources have published figures above that range. All figures in circulation represent unverified estimates derived from broadcast industry salary averages and career length calculations. No confirmed net worth figure exists in any publicly accessible financial disclosure connected to Szwed’s name. These estimates carry no documentary confirmation and should not be read as verified data.
Personal Life and Family
No public record, interview transcript, or verified statement from Jill Szwed confirms a husband, romantic partner, or documented marital status. Her relationship standing falls outside the scope of any disclosure she has made across her broadcast career at WDTV-TV, WLEX-TV, WTEN-TV, or WTAE-TV.
A single unverified reference to a person named Tom appeared in a fan comment posted beneath a public social media post by meteorologist Steve Caporizzo on the date of Szwed’s final broadcast at WTEN-TV on January 26, 2024. Szwed herself made no statement in response to that comment, and no corroborating documentation connects that name to any confirmed relationship. The reference holds no verified status.
A separate documented source of viewer confusion involves Szwed’s WTAE-TV colleague Ashley Dougherty, who held a position on the same weather team beginning before February 2024. Dougherty published posts about her own marriage and personal life across public channels. Viewers who followed both meteorologists on the same station sometimes attributed Dougherty’s personal disclosures to Szwed — a cross-attribution that biographical records and Szwed’s own public statements do not support.
Jill Szwed documented public communications encompassed weather forecasting updates, STEM advocacy content, and family-related posts. No romantic or relationship disclosure appeared within that body of public communication.
Children
No birth record, public filing, or biographical disclosure lists children in connection with Szwed’s name. She made no public statement about children or family planning across her decade-long broadcast career spanning four television markets.
The absence of any child-related documentation applies across all four stations where she held on-air positions — WDTV-TV in West Virginia, WLEX-TV in Kentucky, WTEN-TV and WXXA-TV in New York, and WTAE-TV in Pennsylvania. Her publicly shared content addressed professional assignments, community events, and immediate family members — specifically her parents and sister — without reference to children.
Family Ties and Hometown Connection
Szwed’s immediate family maintained residence in Western Pennsylvania across her entire broadcast career. Her parents held their home in Butler, Pennsylvania — the same borough where she was born on September 24, 1991 and raised through her secondary school years. Her younger sister relocated to Wexford, Pennsylvania, and held that residence through Szwed’s documented career timeline.
Jill Szwed identified her sister as her best friend in biographical materials she contributed to during her broadcast career. The two siblings hold birthdays in close proximity within the same calendar week. In October 2024, Szwed published a post with the caption “Szwed sisters birthday week is the best week,” a documented public acknowledgment of their shared birthday period. Her extended family included grandparents who held residence in Butler and Scottdale, Pennsylvania.
On June 14, 2023, Szwed published a post acknowledging her father’s retirement — a documented milestone within her family’s timeline that she shared through a public channel during her tenure at WTEN-TV in Albany.
The Western Pennsylvania family network held a documented role in Szwed’s decision to depart WTEN-TV in January 2024 and accept the WTAE-TV position in Pittsburgh. Her January 2024 public statements at the time of the announcement referenced the pull of returning to her home region as a factor in the career transition.
The household environment in which Jill Szwed grew up in Butler placed consistent emphasis on news media consumption. That household pattern ran parallel to her academic decision to pursue a dual focus — meteorology as a primary field and communications as a minor discipline — at Saint Louis University between 2010 and 2014.
Jill Szwed's Height, Appearance, and Physical Profile
Jill Szwed documented height stands at 5 feet 6 inches, the metric equivalent of 168 centimeters. Her hair color registers as blonde, and her eye color is blue. Both attributes appeared consistently across her broadcast station biographical profiles at WDTV-TV, WLEX-TV, WTEN-TV, and WTAE-TV across her ten-year career span.
Her physical maintenance regimen encompasses yoga, dance training inclusive of pilates, and outdoor physical activity — each documented through biographical disclosures she contributed to across multiple station assignments.
Szwed’s exact body weight and additional body measurements fall outside the scope of publicly available records. Her professional identity encompasses broadcast journalism, and no commercial modeling disclosures appear anywhere in her documented career history.
Jill Szwed's Interests, Hobbies, and Personal Identity
Szwed’s involvement in dance began at age 4 and continued without documented interruption through her undergraduate years at Saint Louis University between 2010 and 2014. Ballet held the primary position among the dance disciplines she trained in across that period. During her four-year assignment at WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, between May 2016 and her departure in 2020, she enrolled in classes at Lexington Ballet — resuming formal dance training alongside her broadcast schedule.
In December 2024, her dance background carried into a public context when Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre cast her in a walk-on celebrity role in its annual Nutcracker production at the Benedum Center. Her biographical self-descriptions across public channels included the phrase “retired dancer” as a personal identifier.
Cooking, Baking, and Food
Jill Szwed documented personal interests included cooking and baking, both of which she referenced across biographical profiles she contributed to at multiple stations throughout her career. She applied the self-descriptor “foodie” to her interest in food more broadly.
Her engagement with Pittsburgh’s restaurant scene formed an extension of that interest following her return to the city in February 2024, and food-related content appeared within her documented pattern of public posts.
Fitness Activities
Her physical maintenance regimen, documented across station biographical profiles and public disclosures, encompassed yoga, pilates, and outdoor activity. These three categories formed the consistent documented framework of her personal fitness engagement across her career timeline.
Pittsburgh Sports Allegiance
Szwed applied the self-descriptor “yinzer” — a colloquial regional identifier for people with deep Pittsburgh-area identity — to her own background across documented biographical materials. Her team allegiances encompassed all three major Pittsburgh professional sports franchises: the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL, the Pittsburgh Pirates of MLB, and the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL.
This allegiance held documented consistency across her station biographies from her West Virginia and Kentucky postings through her return to Pittsburgh in February 2024.
Saint Louis University Alumni Identity
Szwed’s affiliation with Saint Louis University, where she completed her Bachelor of Science in Meteorology with a minor in Communications in 2014, extended into her post-graduation years through documented references to the university and its Billiken mascot. The Billiken — SLU’s athletic teams’ identifier — appeared in her public biographical content as a recurring point of alumni connection across her broadcast career.
STEM Advocacy and Community Involvement
Jill Szwed’s broadcast career encompassed a documented layer of community engagement that extended beyond weather forecasting into science education advocacy. Her outreach focused specifically on encouraging girls to pursue pathways in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics — a commitment she carried across multiple station assignments and into her Pittsburgh broadcast base at WTAE-TV.
Her participation in Dress for STEM Day placed her on air wearing purple, a color associated with the observance, as a visible signal directed at young women considering science careers. The observance formed part of a broader pattern of STEM-related public engagement that included direct school visits. During those visits, Jill Szwed addressed student audiences about careers in meteorology, drawing on the arc of her own trajectory — from a sixth-grade science class in Butler, Pennsylvania, through a meteorology degree at Saint Louis University in 2014, to a decade of on-air broadcast assignments across four states. Her documented message to student audiences included the phrase “The sky’s the limit” in reference to science career possibilities.
Her stated objective for STEM reporting at WTAE-TV encompassed the development of weekday segments addressing technology, environmental science, and research topics relevant to the Western Pennsylvania region. The goal attached to that initiative targeted accessibility — translating complex scientific material into formats comprehensible to a general broadcast audience.
In December 2024, Jill Szwed appeared in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s annual production of The Nutcracker at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh. Her appearance on December 22, 2024, placed her in a walk-on celebrity role across the prologue and the Party Scene of Act I. Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s published guest list for that production confirmed her inclusion among fourteen celebrity guest appearances across twelve performances of the December 2024 run.
Her community journalism work included reporting on Butler Catholic School’s garden program — an education initiative connected to her hometown of Butler, Pennsylvania. That coverage placed her reporting work in direct geographic and biographical alignment with the community that formed her background.
Broadcast Career Timeline
| Period | Station | Location | Role | Notable Coverage |
| June 2014 – November 2014 | WDTV-TV | Clarksburg, West Virginia | Weekend Meteorologist | Mountain State four-season weather; flash flooding |
| November 2014 – 2016 | WDTV-TV | Clarksburg, West Virginia | Morning & Noon Meteorologist; Traffic Anchor | 26-inch snowstorm; multiple tornadoes; WV Broadcasters Association "Best AM Newscast" (team award) |
| May 2016 – 2020 | WLEX-TV (LEX 18) | Lexington, Kentucky | Weekend Meteorologist | Kentucky Derby live (wettest on record); Keeneland; PGA Tour; tornado outbreaks; flooding |
| June 2020 – January 26, 2024 | WTEN-TV / WXXA-TV (NEWS10 ABC) | Albany, New York | Weekday Morning Meteorologist | Nor'easters; lake-effect snow; Northeastern winter systems; STEM outreach expansion |
| February 2024 – onward | WTAE-TV (Pittsburgh's Action News 4) | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Weekend Morning Meteorologist; Weekday Fill-In; STEM Reporter | Pittsburgh record tornado activity (May 2025); sub-zero wind chills (January 2026) |
Awards, Certifications & Milestones
| Year | Recognition | Awarding Body | Details |
| 2014–2016 (WDTV tenure) | "Best AM Newscast" Award | West Virginia Broadcasters Association | Awarded to the WDTV 5 News Daybreak team; Szwed held morning meteorologist position at time of recognition |
| During WDTV tenure (exact year unconfirmed) | Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) Seal — CBM #814 | American Meteorological Society (AMS) | Announced publicly during active winter storm coverage preparation; requires verified educational standards, comprehensive examination, and documented broadcast expertise |
| June 2024 | 10-Year Broadcast Career Milestone | Self-documented ("10 years, 4 stations, 1 dream") | Spanning WDTV-TV (WV), WLEX-TV (KY), WTEN/WXXA (NY), WTAE-TV (PA) |
| December 22, 2024 | Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Celebrity Guest Appearance | Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre — The Nutcracker, Benedum Center | Walk-on role in prologue and Party Scene of Act I; one of 14 celebrity guest appearances across 12 performances |
FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About Jill Szwed
Top questions answered about the WTAE-TV Pittsburgh meteorologist and her career and personal life
Born on September 24, 1991, in Butler, Pennsylvania, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from Saint Louis University (2014) and the American Meteorological Society Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation, CBM #814. Her broadcast base at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh established in February 2024, where her role encompasses weekend morning weather forecasts and weekday STEM reporting segments.
A single unverified reference to a person named Tom appeared in a fan comment beneath a public post on January 26, 2024 — the date of her final broadcast at WTEN-TV in Albany. Szwed made no statement in response to that comment, and no corroborating documentation connects that name to any confirmed relationship. Her marital status remains outside the scope of any public record.
She made no public statement about children or family planning across her decade-long broadcast career at WDTV-TV in West Virginia, WLEX-TV in Kentucky, WTEN-TV and WXXA-TV in New York, and WTAE-TV in Pennsylvania. No child-related documentation appears in any of her four station profiles or publicly shared content.
Her relationship standing falls outside the scope of any disclosure she made across her four-station career spanning West Virginia, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania. Online viewer confusion occasionally arose from her WTAE-TV colleague Ashley Dougherty, who published posts about her own personal life — a cross-attribution that Szwed's own public record does not support.
Her birthday falls on September 24 each year and has been acknowledged publicly by her WTAE-TV colleagues and co-anchors on air. She celebrated her birthday on air in September 2025. Some older internet profiles listed her age inaccurately because she kept her birth year private early in her career.
She joined WTEN-TV and WXXA-TV in Albany in June 2020, replacing predecessor Jess Briganti in the morning slot. Her departure announcement came in January 2024. She left to return to her hometown region of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she accepted the WTAE-TV position. Her on-air work at WTAE-TV began during the week of February 5, 2024.
Her parents held their home in Butler through her entire broadcast career. She attended Saint Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, graduating in 2010. She applied the regional self-descriptor "yinzer" to her own background and maintained documented allegiance to all Pittsburgh professional sports franchises — the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins — across her career.
Her hair color registers as blonde and her eye color is blue — both attributes appeared consistently across her broadcast station biographical profiles at WDTV-TV, WLEX-TV, WTEN-TV, and WTAE-TV. Her exact body weight and additional body measurements fall outside the scope of publicly available records.
Saint Louis University — whose athletic teams carry the Billiken name — housed the meteorology program through which she pursued her degree. During her enrollment between 2010 and 2014, she completed internships at two Pittsburgh-area stations: one under meteorologist Jeff Verszyla at KDKA-TV and another under meteorologist Stephen Cropper at WPXI-TV. Both later became her professional colleagues at WTAE-TV.
This certification requires candidates to meet defined educational thresholds, complete a comprehensive examination process, and demonstrate documented broadcast competency. The credential separates AMS-certified meteorologists from weather presenters who lack formal atmospheric science degrees. Szwed announced the receipt of this certification publicly during active winter storm coverage preparation.
Based on career duration, market classification, and documented certification level, industry observers placed estimated net worth figures in a range between $300,000 and $1 million. Separate sources published figures above that range. All figures in circulation represent unverified estimates derived from broadcast industry salary averages and career length calculations. These estimates carry no documentary confirmation.
Industry compensation data for AMS-certified broadcast meteorologists who hold multi-market experience at the level of a major American television market places estimated annual earnings in the range of $75,000 to $115,000. Her AMS CBM #814 designation, four-market career history, and ten-year broadcast tenure position her profile toward the upper range of those industry estimates. Additional income channels encompassed public appearances and STEM speaking engagements.
Szwed identified her sister as her best friend in biographical materials she contributed to during her broadcast career. The two siblings hold birthdays in close proximity within the same calendar week. In October 2024, Szwed published a post with the caption "Szwed sisters birthday week is the best week" — a documented public acknowledgment of their shared birthday period.
Her career launched at WDTV-TV in Clarksburg, West Virginia in June 2014, where she advanced from weekend meteorologist to morning and noon meteorologist by November 2014. In May 2016, she transitioned to WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky as weekend meteorologist for four years. In June 2020, she accepted the weekday morning meteorologist position at WTEN-TV and WXXA-TV in Albany, New York, where she remained through January 26, 2024.
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