“His enthusiasm for the weather, backed by the constantly evolving technology, is simply unmatched. There isn’t another meteorologist in history of the city, or the country for that matter, who has been more impactful doing what he does,” says Paul Rennie, WGN-TV vice president and general manager. He has also reported firsthand on the weather from locales as varied as Alaska, Las Vegas, an ice-breaking ship in the middle of Lake Huron, and, most famously, was once chased by a tornado in Oklahoma. In addition to his weather forecasts on WGN News, Skilling hosted nearly 40 years of severe weather seminars at Fermilab, often welcoming in a “who’s who” of severe weather experts from around the world. Bottom line, he has always treated the audience with respect.”Īdds Stasi, “The events he’s been here for read like a history of Chicago the brutal winters of the ‘80s, the Plainfield tornado, the 1995 heatwave, the Groundhog’s Day Blizzard of 2011. He carefully explains complex meteorological concepts in layman’s terms, support by graphics often featuring isobars and upper-airs charts. “But Tom has taken it to a much higher level. “There was a time when weather forecasting was seen as a not-serious profession,” says WGN-TV News Director Dominick Stasi. Known for his in-depth and highly detailed weather segments, Skilling has elevated the audience’s understanding of not just the weather, but the science behind it. He had a series of radio and TV jobs in Illinois and Wisconsin before coming to WGN-TV in August of 1978. Skilling started his successful career at the unheard-of age of 14 at WKKD in Aurora, while still in high school. I wouldn’t trade a single minute of it for anything.” Overjoyed at the colleagues I’ve worked with, the viewers I’ve met, the stories I’ve covered. “If you had told young Tom Skilling that he would go on to have a career in weather spanning seven decades, working in Chicago, with some truly wonderful people, I think he would be overjoyed,” says Skilling. Tom Skilling, who has defined the gold standard of being a TV meteorologist and has been forecasting the weather on WGN-TV for the past 45 years, announced on WGN Evening News that he will retire on Feb.
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