If you wake up in the Philadelphia area, there is a good chance Sue Serio has already told you whether to carry an umbrella.
Sue Serio has been the weather anchor on FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia since 1997, after about a decade in radio and stops at WHYY and in Buffalo. People who search her name usually want the same handful of answers: how old she is, who she is married to, whether she has children, what she earns, and what happened when she stepped off the air in 2024.
This guide answers each of those with named sources, points out where websites contradict one another, and says plainly when something is unconfirmed.
Key Takeaways
• Sue Serio has been FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia weather anchor since 1997 (the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia says December 1997).
• Her birthday is widely reported as August 16, 1958, which would make her 68 today. FOX 29 does not publish her birthday, so this comes from secondary sources.
• She is married to Bill Vargus, a former sports anchor. They have one daughter, Nia Patricia.
• Net worth estimates range from $500,000–$1 million to about $2 million. None of them is verified, and her salary has never been officially disclosed.
• No reliable source I found confirms weight loss surgery. The surgery she did disclose in 2024 was related to breast cancer.
Sue Serio Quick Facts
| Detail | Information |
| Full name | Susan Patricia Serio Vargus (professionally Sue Serio) |
| Birthday | August 16, 1958 (reported by secondary sources, not published by her employer) |
| Age | 68, if the 1958 birth year is correct |
| Grew up in | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Profession | TV weather anchor and broadcaster |
| Employer | FOX 29 (WTXF-TV), Philadelphia |
| Show | Good Day Philadelphia |
| Education | B.A. in Mass Communication (cum laude), Towson University; Certificate in Broadcast Meteorology, Mississippi State University (June 1995) |
| Husband | Bill Vargus |
| Child | Daughter, Nia Patricia |
| Lives in | Delaware County, Pennsylvania |
| Net worth | Unverified estimates, roughly $500,000 to $2 million (see the net worth section) |
| Salary | Not officially disclosed |
Who Is Sue Serio?
Sue Serio is an American television weather anchor and broadcaster, best known for FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia, where she has delivered forecasts since 1997.
She is not only a forecaster. Her FOX 29 biography describes forecasts delivered from blizzards, thunderstorms and windy stretches of the Jersey Shore. She also steps into the anchor chair when needed. On the studio green screen, local children who win a contest “do the weather with Sue” to raise money for charities.
One nuance most profile sites skip: her bachelor’s degree is in mass communication, not meteorology. Her formal weather credential, as FOX 29 describes it, is a Certificate in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University, earned in June 1995. That certificate, plus a long radio career, is what shaped her style.
She also does community work. Her FOX 29 biography lists volunteering for the Media Theatre, Tyler Arboretum and the SPCA, and serving as co-chair of the local Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk. That biography dates from 2019, so treat these roles as historical rather than current.
Sue Serio’s Age and Birthday
Based on the most consistent reporting, Sue Serio was born on August 16, 1958, which makes her 68 years old in October 2026.
FOX 29’s own biography never states her birthday, so the date comes from secondary sources. The birth year does hold up against a separate check: news coverage of her August 2024 health announcement gave her age as 66, which matches 1958 and an August 16 birthday.
Why You Will See 1958 and 1960
Some older profile pages list August 16, 1960. That year doesn’t fit the documented career. Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia says her radio career began at Towson in 1977, and she has said she landed her first Baltimore radio job at 19. Someone born in 1958 would be about 19 in that period. Someone born in 1960 would have been 17, which doesn’t line up with a college freshman landing a professional radio job.
One other site lists her birth date as a day in 2026 and her age as “one month.” That is a plain data-entry error, and it’s worth ignoring.
Early Life and Education
Sue Serio grew up in Baltimore. In a January 2023 Philadelphia magazine Q&A, she said she wanted to be an archaeologist as a child. She has not publicly discussed her parents or siblings in any of the sources I reviewed, so this article does not guess at them.
From Baltimore to Towson University
She graduated cum laude from Towson University in Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication.
Her broadcasting start was almost accidental. As a freshman she volunteered at the campus radio station. After a few months, the station let her go on the air to play music for half an hour before a lacrosse game. A Towson alumnus working at a Baltimore station heard her, called to ask who the deejay was, and told her about a weekend opening. She got the job at 19. She has said it wasn’t a lifelong dream; she kept going until she stopped enjoying it.
The Meteorology Certificate She Earned by VHS
When she moved toward weather, she enrolled in the broadcast meteorology program at Mississippi State University by distance learning. In a 2022 FOX Weather interview she recalled receiving lectures on VHS tapes in the mail. She earned the certificate in June 1995.
Sue Serio’s Career
Her career follows one steady idea: learn to do many things, then use them all.
Radio Years
She spent about ten years in radio. Her stations included:
• WMAR-FM, Baltimore, where she started professionally
• WBAL, Baltimore, as midday host
• WSTW, Wilmington, Delaware, as morning show co-host
• WMGK, Philadelphia, as host and producer of the late-night “Magic After Dark”
• WKSZ-FM, as morning show co-host
Philadelphia magazine describes “Magic After Dark” as a soft-rock show built around artists like Lionel Richie and Whitney Houston.
It wasn’t all smooth. She was laid off from her second Baltimore radio job, which she has called devastating. Her takeaway was that you survive it and figure out what comes next. Radio also gave her the skill that got her into weather: she has said she was hired partly because she could ad-lib, and weather is not a teleprompter read.
WHYY and WIVB Buffalo
Before FOX 29, she worked at WHYY-TV 12, Philadelphia’s PBS station, as a weather anchor and feature reporter on the evening newscast. She then co-anchored “WAKE-UP,” the top-rated morning show on CBS affiliate WIVB-TV in Buffalo, New York, and co-anchored the station’s “News at Noon.”
Joining FOX 29 in 1997
Sue Serio joined FOX 29 in 1997 as the weather anchor for Good Day Philadelphia. Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia dates it to December of that year.
Her FOX 29 biography highlights one career moment: she once let movie star Mark Wahlberg do her job on the air. In the same 2022 interview, she said that arriving at FOX felt like everything she had learned along the way had been leading there.
Sue Serio Career Timeline
| When | Milestone |
| 1977 | Begins radio work at Towson (Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia) |
| Late 1970s–1980s | About ten years across Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia radio |
| Nov. 1994 | Receives the Outstanding Individual Achievement Award for weathercaster from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| June 1995 | Earns the Certificate in Broadcast Meteorology, Mississippi State University |
| Dec. 1997 | Joins FOX 29 as Good Day Philadelphia weather anchor |
| 2017 | Inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame |
| 2020–2021 | Starts the “Whatcha Makin?” crafts series during the pandemic |
| 2022 | Marks 25 years at FOX 29 |
| Aug. 2024 | Announces a breast cancer diagnosis on air (covered in the health section) |
| Nov. 2025 | Named Person of the Year by Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia |
Sue Serio’s Awards and Honors
| Honor | Year | Awarding body |
| Five Emmy nominations | Across her career | National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| Outstanding Individual Achievement Award for weathercaster | Nov. 1994 | National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |
| Certificate in Broadcast Meteorology | June 1995 | Mississippi State University |
| Hall of Fame induction | 2017 | Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia |
| Person of the Year | 2025 (gala Nov. 21, 2025, Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia) | Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia |
One caution on wording. Broadcast Pioneers’ own site calls her an Emmy winner, while her FOX 29 biography describes five Emmy nominations and the 1994 achievement award. Because the sources differ, the safest description is “five-time Emmy nominee,” and that is what this article uses.
Sue Serio’s Husband, Bill Vargus
Sue Serio is married to Bill Vargus, a longtime Philadelphia broadcaster who is sometimes called Billy V. He has been a sports anchor, and he is also a member of Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.
How They Met at WHYY
The couple met at WHYY-TV 12, Philadelphia’s PBS station. She was working there as a weather anchor and feature reporter, and he was the station’s sports anchor. Both Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia and Serio herself, in a Philadelphia magazine Q&A, describe it this way.
Two secondary sites report that they married in 1994, around the time they moved to Buffalo. I could not confirm the year in a primary source, so treat it as reported rather than verified.
Bill Vargus’s Career After TV
CelebzFame reports that Bill later worked as a sports reporter at FOX 29 and then moved into real estate and media-related business ventures, including regional advertising. I could not confirm those details from a second independent source, so this article leaves them as one site’s claim.
The couple lives in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Her 2023 Philadelphia magazine interview mentions the town of Media, and her FOX 29 biography describes an “empty nest.”
Sue Serio’s Daughter, Nia
Sue Serio and Bill Vargus have one child, a daughter named Nia Patricia. If you searched “Sue Serio kids,” that is the full public answer.
In her 2022 FOX Weather interview, Serio said that her daughter was a baby when she started at FOX 29. As Nia grew, Serio sometimes brought her along to outdoor weather locations. She remembers a morning at the beach where they stayed afterward, and called those among her happiest memories. Her FOX 29 biography, written in 2019, says Nia grew up on Good Day Philadelphia and was attending college in Maryland.
Nia is an adult and has her own life, and she has not been a public figure in her own right. This article leaves out her exact birth date and personal details. Websites list conflicting dates for her anyway.
Sue Serio Weight Loss: What Is and Is Not Confirmed
No reliable source I found confirms that Sue Serio had weight loss surgery or has spoken about losing weight.
I checked her FOX 29 biography, the FOX Weather feature, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s reporting, Philadelphia magazine and the Broadcast Pioneers pages. None of them mentions weight loss or bariatric surgery. The phrase “Sue Serio weight loss surgery” shows up mainly on aggregator and wiki-style pages, often as a bare heading with no statement from her behind it.
The surgery she did publicly discuss was related to breast cancer, covered below. Viewers sometimes notice changes in how someone looks after a stretch away from work, but guessing at causes isn’t reporting. Without a statement from her, the accurate answer is that her weight is not a documented public topic. This article doesn’t offer measurements or estimates.
Sue Serio’s Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Return to Air
Sue Serio announced on air in August 2024 that she had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. She has been open about it because she wants viewers to get screened.
The 2012 Scare
This was not her first scare. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a screening mammogram in 2012 had found another potentially malignant spot. She has described having it removed, with her doctor then finding no cancer. That earlier history is missing from most competing profiles.
The August 2024 Announcement
On Friday, August 30, 2024, she told viewers about the diagnosis alongside Good Day Philadelphia colleagues Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley. The Inquirer reported a stage-one diagnosis and said she expected to be off air for about a month. She said a mammogram was “probably going to save me” for the second time in her life.
Her surgeon, Dr. Julia Tchou of Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, joined the broadcast. Dr. Tchou said the lump could have spread had she put off the screening. Serio has said she chose to go public before surgery to encourage others. She told the Inquirer she was gratified when a friend texted afterward to say she had booked a mammogram. The Inquirer also noted that Jerrick’s own prostate cancer diagnosis earlier that year helped push her toward sharing her story.
Secondary summaries say she had surgery shortly after Labor Day 2024 and expected about four weeks of recovery. One site states a recovery of about two months and a return in early November, but I could not verify the exact return date from a primary source. FOX 29 has since aired a special report in which she shared research, patient stories and an update on her own journey, so she has been public about her health since returning.
If you or someone you know is due for a screening, this is the practical takeaway Serio herself has stressed. Talk to your doctor about what schedule fits your situation.
Sue Serio Net Worth
Sue Serio’s net worth is unverified. The public estimates run from about $500,000 to $1 million at the low end to about $2 million at the high end.
Neither she nor FOX 29 has disclosed her finances, and no Forbes or Bloomberg figure exists. Any number below is an estimate, may be out of date, and shouldn’t be read with false precision.
Net Worth Estimates Compared
| Source | Reported net worth | Reported salary | Date |
| CelebzFame | About $2 million | About $120,000 a year | Page published Dec. 2025, updated Jan. 2026 |
| QuickCelebFacts | $500,000–$1 million | About $60,000 | Page updated Feb. 2025 |
| Forbes / Bloomberg | No figure published | None | N/A |
| Official (FOX 29 or Serio) | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | N/A |
A few smaller sites repeat the $2 million and $120,000 figures word for word, which suggests they copy one another rather than offering independent confirmation.
Where Her Income Comes From
The only income source I can document is her full-time job as FOX 29’s weather anchor since 1997. CelebzFame also mentions sponsored segments, appearances and social media, but it gives no evidence for any of that. I have not found a documented breakdown, so I’m not inventing one.
Sue Serio’s Salary
Sue Serio’s salary has never been officially disclosed. Websites suggest anything from about $60,000 to about $120,000 a year.
A gap that wide shows how little these figures can be trusted. Local television pay is generally private, and neither number comes with a named source or a method.
Why Local Anchor Net Worth Estimates Disagree
Net worth pages for local TV personalities tend to contradict each other for a few practical reasons.
• No audited source exists. There are no filings or interviews to check.
• Salary does not equal net worth. Multiplying a salary by years worked ignores taxes, living costs, savings and spending.
• Household money blurs the picture. A married couple’s finances are often shared, and Bill Vargus has his own broadcasting career and, per one site, business interests.
• Pages copy each other. Once one site publishes a number, others repeat it.
A quick way to judge any estimate, which this guide calls the Three-Question Estimate Test, is to ask: Does the page show how it got the number? Is the number dated and updated? Does it separate salary from net worth? If the answer to all three is no, treat the figure as a rough guess.
Is Sue Serio Retiring?
I found no retirement announcement in any source I reviewed. Her FOX 29 biography page is still live, and the station has aired a special report in which she gave an update on her health journey.
In a 2022 FOX Weather interview, she said she’ll step away the day she stops enjoying the job, and that she doesn’t see that happening for a long time. That is the closest thing to a statement on the subject. Plans can change, so check FOX 29 for anything newer than this article.
Sue Serio on Good Day Philadelphia Today
On Good Day Philadelphia, Sue Serio works alongside anchors including Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley, as well as traffic reporter Bob Kelly, whom she named as her pick for a zombie apocalypse in her 2023 Philadelphia magazine interview.
“Whatcha Makin?” and Community Work
During the pandemic, she started a series called “Whatcha Makin?” that gives Philadelphia-area creatives a chance to show off crafts, cooking and art. She has said she enjoys it because her job lets her see what other people are making. She is a needlework hobbyist herself, and her 2019 FOX 29 biography mentions knitting and a family dog named Rufus.
Her Advice for New Broadcasters
Asked what she’d tell aspiring broadcasters, she jokingly said to pick another role model. More seriously, she said to learn as many skills as possible and to learn how to tell a good story, because a forecast is essentially a story. She also pointed out how much the business has changed for women. When she started at a Baltimore radio station, she was one of only two women on air, and there were no women in management.
Conflicting Facts About Sue Serio, Checked
This is the part most pages skip. When sources disagree, here is what each says and what this article used.
| Detail | What sources say | What this article uses |
| Birth year | 1958 on newer pages; 1960 on older ones; one page lists a 2026 birth date | 1958, because it matches reported ages and her college radio timeline |
| Height | About 5’7″ (CelebzFame) vs 5’10” (QuickCelebFacts) | Left out, since neither is sourced |
| Eye color | Blue (CelebzFame) vs brown (QuickCelebFacts) | Left out, unsourced |
| Emmy status | “Emmy winner” (Broadcast Pioneers) vs five nominations plus a 1994 achievement award (FOX 29) | Five-time nominee |
| Recovery time off air | About a month planned (Inquirer) vs about two months (CelebzFame) | Planned about a month; actual return date unverified |
| Radio stations | WQSR-FM (CelebzFame) vs WKSZ-FM (FOX 29 biography) | FOX 29’s list |
| Net worth | $500,000–$1 million vs about $2 million | Presented as an unverified range |
| Salary | About $60,000 vs about $120,000 | Undisclosed, with both estimates shown |
FAQ’s
How old is Sue Serio?
Sue Serio is 68 if she was born August 16, 1958, the most widely reported date. FOX 29 doesn’t publish her birthday, but news coverage that gave her age as 66 in August 2024 fits that birth year.
Who is Sue Serio’s husband?
Her husband is Bill Vargus, a former sports anchor sometimes called Billy V. They met at WHYY-TV 12 in Philadelphia, where both worked. Secondary sources say they married in 1994.
Does Sue Serio have kids?
She has one daughter, Nia Patricia, who grew up around Good Day Philadelphia and was attending college in Maryland as of her 2019 FOX 29 biography. No other children are mentioned in the sources I reviewed.
What is Sue Serio’s net worth?
There is no verified figure. Estimates range from about $500,000 to $1 million up to about $2 million, and none comes from an audited or official source. Treat any number as a rough guess.
How much does Sue Serio make?
Her salary hasn’t been officially disclosed. Websites claim anywhere from about $60,000 to about $120,000 a year, with no stated method. The gap between those figures shows how unreliable they are.
Did Sue Serio have weight loss surgery?
No reliable source confirms it. The surgery she did discuss publicly was related to her 2024 breast cancer diagnosis. Her weight is not a documented public topic.
What happened to Sue Serio?
In August 2024, she announced on air that she had early-stage breast cancer found by a routine mammogram. She stepped away for treatment and has since spoken publicly about early detection. She also had an earlier scare in 2012.
Is Sue Serio retiring or leaving Fox 29?
I found no retirement announcement. She said in 2022 that she plans to keep working as long as she enjoys it. Check FOX 29 for any current news.
Is Sue Serio a meteorologist?
FOX 29 calls her a weather anchor. Her formal weather training is a Certificate in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University (1995), and her bachelor’s degree is in mass communication. The sources I reviewed don’t mention any additional professional credentials.
Conclusion
Sue Serio’s story is one of steady, adaptable work: a college radio volunteer who became a Baltimore deejay at 19, studied weather from VHS lectures, and has been a fixture on Good Day Philadelphia since 1997. The facts about her life are well documented in some places and thin or contradictory in others, and this guide has tried to show which is which. Her net worth and salary remain unverified, her weight is not a confirmed topic, and the one health story she chose to tell publicly has been about the value of getting screened early.
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