Ginger Zee

Ginger Zee has been married to television newscaster Ben Aaron since June 7, 2014. They have two sons, Adrian Benjamin Colonomos, born in 2015, and Miles Macklin Colonomos, born in 2018. Zee was born Ginger Renee Zuidgeest, and her family moved from California to Michigan before she was one year old.

At age 21, Zee was diagnosed with narcolepsy. She has spoken about seeing a waterspout on Lake Michigan when she was eight, an experience that sparked her interest in meteorology.

Zee studied meteorology at Valparaiso University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and also majored in mathematics and Spanish. She began her broadcasting career at WLAV-FM and WXMI in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and later worked at WYIN in Merrillville, Indiana, WEYI NBC 25 in Flint, Michigan, and WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids. During the early part of her career, she supported herself by working as a bartender and aerobics instructor.

She joined Chicago's NBC station WMAQ in 2006 and worked there through 2011, while also filling in for NBC and MSNBC programs. During that period, she guest-hosted the weather segment on the weekend edition of The Today Show, fulfilling the goal she had set at high school graduation. Zee holds the American Meteorological Society's Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation and served as an adjunct professor at Valparaiso University from 2008 to 2011.

Zee joined Good Morning America Weekend in November 2011. In December 2013, ABC News named her chief meteorologist for Good Morning America and weather editor for ABC News, succeeding Sam Champion. She reports across ABC News broadcasts and digital platforms and has served as chief climate correspondent.

Her coverage has included Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Helene, wildfires, blizzards, tornado outbreaks, floods, extreme heat, and other major weather events. Her climate reporting has examined subjects including enhanced rock weathering in North Carolina, the megadrought affecting Lakes Mead and Powell, and sea-level rise in the Maldives and Maryland.

Zee has combined weather reporting with adventure features, including parahawking in Nepal, paragliding from the Himalayas to the Andes, diving with sharks in the Bahamas, rappelling down the Wit Hotel in Chicago, exploring caves and waterfalls, and reporting from a volcano in Iceland. She has also hosted climate specials for ABC News Live and the recurring segment "Climate A to Zee."

In 2016, Zee competed on season 22 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, where she was partnered with professional dancer Valentin Chmerkovskiy. The pair reached the finals and finished in third place.

Zee received the season's first perfect score for a Viennese waltz, and her performances included the jive, samba, foxtrot, salsa, jazz, Argentine tango, quickstep, contemporary, and freestyle. During the season's switch-up week, she performed with Mark Ballas instead of Chmerkovskiy.

Beyond weather broadcasting, Zee has appeared as herself in programs including Younger and Famous in Love. She voiced Dr. Zephyr Skye, a storm-chasing alien, in Disney Junior's Miles from Tomorrowland. Her television credits also include Hearts of Heroes, Food Forecast With Ginger Zee, Extreme Weather in America, and Renovation Realities: Ben & Ginger.

Zee co-hosts Hearts of Heroes, which focuses on first responders, and created and hosted the digital series Food Forecast. She has authored five books, including Natural Disaster (2017) and the memoir A Little Closer to Home: How I Found the Calm After the Storm (2022). She has also been inducted into the Weather Hall of Fame and was inducted into her high school's Hall of Fame in 2012.