KPRC meteorologist Daji Aswad takes temporary assignment at sister station WSLS

KPRC meteorologist Daji Aswad is temporarily leaving Houston, Texas, for a two-week assignment at sister station WSLS in Roanoke, Virginia, prompting questions from viewers who initially believed she was departing the NBC affiliate permanently.

Aswad announced the assignment in a social media video Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, teasing a move to a new home before clarifying that she would be returning to Houston after helping the Roanoke station, Chron reported.

The meteorologist posted the video from an airport with the caption “I’ll be MIA Houston,” initially leaving viewers uncertain about her future at KPRC.

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“So if you’re wondering why you can’t find me on Channel 2, I’m here on Channel 10 temporarily,” Aswad explained.

Both stations are owned by Graham Media Group.

WSLS, meanwhile, has said goodby to two members of its weather team this year. Parker Beasley and Edward Shaw both left the station in January 2026, leaving Chief Meteorologist Jeff Haniewich, Delaney Willis and Sarah Osterbind to handle forecasting duties. 

Bringing Aswad will help provide some relief to the station. It was not clear if the station has plans to announce a new hire soon that might explain the relatively short two-week stint. It’s also possible the station will pull from other Graham stations for shorter time periods to fill the gap until the team is back at full capacity. 

While it’s possible to run most broadcast news schedules with three meteorologists, it typically requires at least one of the team members to work a split shift on select days, usually weekends. Typically stations will have at least four team members, with work divided into weekday mornings and midday, weekday afternoons and evenings, weekend mornings and weekend evenings.

It’s not uncommon for local news weather teams to reach five or six on-air staffers, often with some of them working overlapping shifts or taking on midday or afternoon forecasting responsibilities. Some stations also assign weekend forecasters to other duties for a few days during the week — such as serving as a lifestyle or features reporter or handling station outreach. 

A larger weather team also allows the station to call in multiple forecasters during severe weather events when there may be ongoing rolling coverage. Having more than one meteorologist on duty allows the station to switch between the two so one person is not on air for long stretches and has time for reviewing forecasting data or taking a break. 

The announcement drew concerned reactions from viewers, some of whom interpreted the initial message as another departure from KPRC’s newsroom.

Aswad, a Houston native, joined KPRC in October 2023 as a weekend meteorologist and science reporter.

Before returning to her hometown, she worked as a weekend evening meteorologist and reporter at WISN in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

She began her broadcasting career at AccuWeather, working as a meteorologist and producer, and graduated from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.

This isn’t the first time a news personality has startled viewers with a social media post that appeared to suggest they were leaving their gig permanently — with the resulting posts often going viral before a hasty clarification is issued.